Activision Blizzard to Pay $18 Million to Settle Federal Sexual Harassment Lawsuit - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 30 March 2022 / 1,830 Views
A federal court judge has approved of Activision Blizzard to pay $18 million in settlement for its sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed last year by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Current and former Activision Blizzard employees can submit their claims for "sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination and/or related retaliation or constructive discharge" dating back to September 1, 2016, to be considered for proper compensation, as determined by the EEOC.
"Our goal is to make Activision Blizzard a model for the industry, and we will continue to focus on eliminating harassment and discrimination from our workplace," said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick in a press release. "The court’s approval of this settlement is an important step in ensuring that our employees have mechanisms for recourse if they experienced any form of harassment or retaliation."
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is critical on the settlement as it has its own case against Activision Blizzard, which is scheduled to go to trial in early 2023, which could be undermined by this.
The DFEH and Communications Workers of America say the $18 million settlement is only enough to provide compensation to 60 employees.
The Washington Post reports those who become part of the EEOC settlement won't be able to be part of the DFEH lawsuit on the issues of sexual harassment, retaliation or pregnancy discrimination.
Riot Games last year agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit due to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and remedy violations against around 1,000 female employees and over 1,000 female contract workers.
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.
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Not bad, about $300K a person. I would put that into Activision stock.
Just for context. They made $8.8 billion in revenue in 2021. That's about 0.2% of their revenue. This would be like someone who makes $100,000 a year doing sexual harassment or abuse on an individual and only paying a $205 fine.
Well it's a settlement. That means Activision was comfortable paying that for them to go away and the other side said good enough.
Agreed! if there was solid proof or something really bad there would not have been a settlement. A lot of people with their hands out today, i feel for the ones who have been victims.
only cash payoffs can cover it up??
Yep, these settlements go for one side the possibility of earning a lot more if they can prove (and to consider settling perhaps not enough to have airtight case) or accepting less but certain while the other the cost of the settlement is much lower than even winning the case in court because of public image.
Pocket change for Kotick
Moral of this story and other recents? Once you're rich or famous enough, just do whatever you want, because you can easily get away with it.
Screw everyone else. Literally. You'll be just fine.
Onto the next good lesson for all...
Rather small time money, as it won't even make much of a dent, but I guess it's been settled/agreed upon in the end, so it is what it is (though I personally think they should have paid more per person affected).
Depends where you look, for Activision certainly it wouldnt make a dent, but for the plaintiff it is 300k per person, which is likely 5 years of wage and most likely they wouldnt even had made that much (at least most) if they stayed working and there were none of the alledgelly issues.
Yes but that's just the owed wage for work, not the damages actually done. The point here is that the victims are seeking for damages, not pay for work, but seeing as how Acti is this big, it doesn't surprise me that the courts managed to allow this settlement in the first place, instead of taking it to the Supreme courts (because a staff member committed suicide, which was caused by higher up staff members).
This kind of makes the whole settlement process a joke, because someone killed themselves and this is the result, a mere settlement, no actual punishment or even a dent in the company wallet.
If the victims says they are ok with the settlement it really isn't anyone else place to complain.
Nice payout. I'm sure many of these accusations aren't true.
Agreed.
I upvoted you :) ...and it's because there are too many sheep in the world.
hahaha i know who you mean xD
Could you DM me in regard who the dog is? Also, what the dog doin?
