Employee Sues Activision Blizzard Over Hostile Workplace and Harassment Allegations

Activision Blizzard is being sued by a current employee regarding allegations that she experienced rampant sexual harassment snd discrimination, even to the point of retaliation in an overall hostile work environment.

According to a new report published by Bloomberg, the woman referred to as Jane Doe by her attorney, Lisa Bloom, employee claimed there was sexism and harassment as part of an “ open ‘frat boy’ environment". She says that she was forced to drink alcohol at work, to participate in events  where women were degraded and harassed, and describes workplace events taking place after hours and framed as a game where employees were told to suggest answers to various questions that were usually sexual in nature.

The suit also says that the employee tried to dress more conservatively and reported some of the incidents but began to face retaliation after her complaints were made and she was dismissed by being told that higher-ups were trying to be “friends”.

This employee who filed this suit is someone who spoke at a press conference in December 2021 about  her alleged experiences at work, which she states she did at a time while she was being considered for an open executive position and her application was rejected afterwards. This is being positioned as potentially part of the retaliation she is alleged to have experienced.

In filing the lawsuit, this client is demanding that there be an order to require Activision Blizzard to have a rotating human resources department that should help avoid conflicts of interest with management, to  have a neutral investigation, andto fire the CEO, Bobby Kotick. The lawsuit also seeks damages for lost earnings, punitive damages, and medical expenses.

This lawsuit is the latest development in a series of investigations, both governmental and journalistic, into accusations of a hostile workplace culture that led to discrimination, harassment, pay and job discrimination. Several of these are still pending, including California's big lawsuit that brought much of this to attention last summer. One that may be drawing to a close soon is a settlement plan with the US EEOC, which has been battled over in court, with Activision Blizzard looking likely to succeed. 

We’ve reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment on this matter. We will update this article with any response should the company provide one.