Blizzard's Alleged Breach: International Law Violation?

In July 2021, California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging that the company had a frat boy culture that enabled unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace. The lawsuit brought to light numerous complaints from employees, including accounts of sexual harassment, unequal pay, and a lack of action from HR. In response, Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout and signed an open letter to management, demanding an end to mandatory arbitration, more diverse hiring practices, and the publication of compensation data. While the company's CEO, Bobby Kotick, initially denied the allegations, he later announced a personal pay cut and waived mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment and discrimination claims. As the court proceedings are still pending, it remains to be seen whether Blizzard broke international law, but the lawsuit has undoubtedly shed light on serious issues within the company.

Activision Blizzard's response to the lawsuit

In response to the lawsuit, Activision Blizzard's initial statement called the claims "irresponsible behaviour from unaccountable state bureaucrats that are driving many of the state's best businesses out of California". The company also said that the lawsuit painted an “distorted and inaccurate" picture of the company.

Following this, CEO Bobby Kotick called the company's initial response "tone deaf". In a statement, Kotick said that Activision Blizzard would be taking “swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment”. He also announced that the company would be hiring a law firm to conduct a review of its policies and procedures, and outlined five immediate actions as part of a commitment to long-lasting change. These included providing employee support, listening sessions, personnel changes, changes to hiring practices, and the removal of inappropriate content from games.

In addition, Activision Blizzard reached an agreement with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to settle claims and strengthen policies and programs to prevent harassment and discrimination. The company also announced a zero-tolerance harassment policy and a pay cut for Kotick.

In response to the Wall Street Journal's report alleging that Kotick knew about and suppressed reports of sexual misconduct, Kotick released a statement saying that the article "paints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership". Activision Blizzard's board of directors also released a statement saying that it "remains confident" in Kotick's leadership.

The company's initial response

On July 21, 2021, news broke that a lawsuit had been filed against Activision Blizzard by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The lawsuit alleged discrimination and sexual harassment against women in the workplace, including a lack of women in leadership positions, unequal pay, and a failure to address complaints by HR. The suit also specifically called out the actions of former WoW senior creative director Alex Afrasiabi, who was "permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment with little to no repercussions."

In its initial response, Activision Blizzard called the lawsuit's claims "distorted, and in many cases false," and accused the DFEH of rushing to file an "inaccurate complaint." The company stated that it had zero tolerance for the behavior described in the lawsuit and that it took all allegations seriously. However, this response was met with criticism by employees, who felt that the company was not taking their concerns seriously.

On July 27, the World of Warcraft team announced plans to remove references from WoW that were "not appropriate," likely including NPCs and items related to Afrasiabi. Employees also stated their intention to walk out on July 28 to protest the company's response, presenting four demands: an end to mandatory arbitration in employee contracts, more diverse recruiting and hiring practices, publication of compensation data and rates, and the formation of a company-wide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion task force.

In response to the growing backlash, CEO Bobby Kotick wrote a public note on July 27, calling the company's initial response "tone-deaf" and promising to take swift action. He announced immediate steps to investigate claims, hold listening sessions, enforce diverse hiring practices, and change inappropriate in-game content. He also stated that anyone found to have impeded the integrity of the company's processes for evaluating claims would be terminated.

On July 28, employees held a walkout at Blizzard HQ, with others participating remotely. In a response to Kotick's letter, they reiterated their demands, stating that the walkout would demonstrate that their voices would not be ignored and that they would not return to silence. The walkout received messages of solidarity from game developers across the industry.

The employee walkout

On July 21, 2022, employees of Activision Blizzard staged a walkout across four states and beyond for those working remotely. The walkout took place between 10 am and 2 pm PT at Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, California. Other locations included Activision in Austin, Texas; offices in Eden Prairie, Minnesota; and offices in Colonie, New York.

The ABK Workers Alliance, an employee-led group, organised the walkout to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of Roe vs. Wade, a historic judgment that secured abortion rights across the country. The group also demanded protection for marginalised workers, particularly women and LGBTQ+ employees, in light of recent state legislation that put them at risk.

In addition to external threats, the group also demanded protection from internal threats, such as retaliation and harassment in the workplace. They claimed that Activision Blizzard's healthcare policies did not adequately protect workers, and that the company had dismissed their concerns in the past year.

This was the third in-person walkout by Activision Blizzard employees within a year, with the first two driven by lawsuits and reports of a widespread culture of sexual harassment, abuse, and discrimination within the company.

The petition for CEO Bobby Kotick's removal

Over 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees have signed a petition asking CEO Bobby Kotick to step down. The petition includes both direct staff members and contractors of the company. The workers have also published the names, titles, and departments of the workers, which could potentially expose the signatories to retaliation.

The petition states that the workers have "lost confidence" in Kotick's leadership and that his "behaviors and practices" in running the company go against the "culture and integrity" they expect of their leadership. It also states that Kotick's actions "directly conflict" with the initiatives started by their peers.

The petition is a response to a bombshell report alleging that Kotick knew about, enabled, and even participated in a culture of misconduct and harassment at Activision Blizzard, which has drawn the attention of government authorities. Despite this, the company's board of directors has issued a statement saying it would continue to support Kotick, even as a group of shareholders demanded his removal.

The petition is the latest development in a series of worker-led actions against the company, which includes two walkouts and the formation of an employee advocacy group, A Better ABK. A Better ABK has also launched a separate petition for fans of the company to show their support in removing Kotick, which has garnered over 2,600 signatures.

The company's efforts to address employee demands

In response to a year of accusations against Activision Blizzard, the Worker Committee Against Sex & Gender Discrimination has released a series of demands for the company's leadership. These demands include:

• Instituting a relationship between leadership, the Worker Committee, and the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) coordinator, and allowing workers to sign off on recommendations made by the coordinator.
• Changing policies around human resources meetings to address the company's history of gross negligence in sexual harassment and discrimination disputes.
• Ending undocumented human resource chats, blanket employee permission to include witnesses or supportive colleagues in meetings, and providing written agendas for every invitation to meet with human resources.
• Ending all mandatory arbitration.
• Providing protection from retaliation.
• Allowing independent investigators to investigate all claims of discrimination and providing the subjects of discrimination complaints with a copy of the complaint and the investigation's findings.
• Implementing workplace improvements and protections for transgender and nonbinary employees, including improved medical and logistical support.
• Expanding parental leave and accommodations, specifically demanding that parents be given 12 weeks of paid time off to bond with their new baby without fear of losing their position or compensation.
• Expanding lactation protections and support policies, ensuring that lactation rooms are properly equipped, and that breast milk is not stolen from lactation room fridges.
• Expanding protection for community managers, customer service representatives, and receptionists in the face of controversy, suspending or banning customers caught harassing employees, and giving workers access to an internal reporting method to log incidents of harassment.

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson stated that the company had already adopted many of the policy changes demanded by employees at the time the demands were made. These included waiving arbitration of individual sexual harassment and discrimination claims, hiring new DEI and EEO leaders, and collaborating with employees to make policies and processes more inclusive for transgender employees. The spokesperson also affirmed that retaliation is prohibited and that investigations into complaints would be handled by a central Ethics team separate from Human Resources.

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