Activision Blizzard Facing New Lawsuit as Worker Alleges 'Rampant Sexism, Harassment, and Discrimination' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 April 2022 / 2,458 Views
Activision Blizzard is facing another lawsuit that alleges a current employee referred to as "Jane Doe" has experienced sexism, harassment and discrimination, according to attorney Lisa Bloom and reported by Bloomberg.
"For years, Activision Blizzard’s open ‘frat boy’ environment fostered rampant sexism, harassment and discrimination with 700 reported incidents occurring under CEO Robert Kotick’s watch," reads the lawsuit.
Doe was hired by Activision Blizzard in 2017 in the IT departments as a senior administrative assistant to executives. On her first day of work she was pressured to take tequila shots and was needed to share "an embarrassing secret" to everyone.
Doe says she was also pressured to drink alcohol and participate in "cube crawls" that saw women deal with sexual comments and groping.
The lawsuit also states she started to dress "more conservatively" to avoid being sexually harassed and to avoid going to offsite leadership dinners. Doe also alleges there was excessive drinking and sexual advances made by her supervisors.
Doe applied for an open executive assistant position in November 2021, but it was rejected after she spoke in December 2021 during a press conference about the harassment she had dealt with.
The lawsuit is looking for CEO Bobby Kotick to be fired, to implement a rotating human resources department to avoid conflicts of interest, for Activision to retain a neutral investigation firm, and more.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
