Video Game Company Pays $54 Million Settlement After Numerous Employees Allege Discrimination

Sometimes the jobs that look like the most fun are the most unpleasant places to work.  When you visited Disneyland as a child, you probably dreamed of working there as a costumed character.  Of course, having to wear full-body costumes in the summer heat to portray an anthropomorphic animal character is enough to deter even the most devoted fans.  You might think the princesses have it easy, because they get to show their own faces; wearing a wig and a flowing dress at work is not that much more cumbersome than the work uniforms at Starbucks or Target, is it?  Meanwhile, it is not hard to find online posts by bright-eyed college students who auditioned for human roles only to be told that they would have to wear contact lenses to make their eye color match that of the character they were portraying, and they were not even the first person to wear this particular contact lens.  Likewise, working for a video game company sounds like a surefire way to spread joy, but numerous women who worked for Activision Blizzard over the years found none of the nerdy exhilaration that you would expect from working behind the scenes of a video game, and for that matter, none of the professionalism that you would expect from work.  If the ugliest sides of human nature put a damper on your dream job, contact a Los Angeles discrimination and harassment lawyer.

Working for Video Game Giant Was Anything but Fun and Games

Activision Blizzard’s sex discrimination problem goes back years; this is not the first time judges have heard about it.  Women who worked for Activision Blizzard between 2015 and 2020, some of them as employees and others as independent contractors, alleged many instances of discrimination against women working at the company.  For example, some women alleged that, in exchange for the same work, male employees received higher pay than female employees, or the company would classify the men as employees and the women as independent contractors.  Likewise, harassment was widespread, both in the form of male employees making sexist jokes and derogatory comments about women in general in the presence of their female coworkers and in the form of unwanted sexual advances.  Several women who requested maternity leave or a pregnancy-related leave of absence from work were fired in retaliation.

In December 2023, California’s Civil Rights Department ordered Activision Blizzard to pay a $54 million settlement, of which $46 million goes directly to former employees and independent contractors of Activision Blizzard who were targets of discrimination.  Two years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ordered Activision Blizzard to pay an $18 million settlement.

Speak With a Los Angeles Employment Discrimination Lawyer

A Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer can help you if your job involves doing something you love, but harassment by coworkers based on a protected characteristic is ruining the fun.  Contact Litigation, P.C. in Los Angeles, California to discuss your situation or call (424)284-2401.

Source:

techcrunch.com/2023/12/18/activision-blizzard-will-pay-54-million-to-settle-california-workplace-discrimination-suit/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHCVCZjqYbqJvZqJ_tZ20Q–nFF5_4QSFPNYxxmFloz3rfbvtUJxxnFjJiX6N4p_HMh73DDmiE1Bxl5VlixfaPQBZ_VD9yKs2EWCXCo2efEbimxOff_E6R42N_0X9IHedwhaUshXwG1tIEzJ2uJDOj7jxIXeklmZpVkR-vPhBpgc