A new lawsuit has been raised against Activision Blizzard, bringing in new allegations of sexual harassment.
Last July, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging a “frat boy” culture of sexual harassment and unequal pay. Now, a new lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on March 23 raises a new set of allegations.
According to Bloomberg Law, the suit was filed by Lisa Bloom on behalf of her client only referred to as “Jane Doe.” Last year, this same unnamed employee held a press conference claiming she had received comments about her body, unwanted sexual advances, and was demoted after filing a complaint regarding these instances. The suit in this case focuses on leaders in Blizzard’s IT department, where Doe has worked since 2017.
The suit claims that Doe was pressured into taking tequila shots at an “initiation lunch.” And she was told by leaders that she needed to share “an embarrassing secret” to everyone as part of her initiation. Doe also alleges she was often pressured to drink alcohol. As well as partaking in “cube crawls” where women received sexual comments and groping, and to play Jackbox.
According to Doe, playing Jackbox was a way of seeing how well she would fit in. But she claims that “creative answers” were suggested, and that these were mostly sexual in nature.
the steps doe took
Doe also claims that she began to dress “more conservatively” to avoid further sexual harassment. She also reportedly filed complaints about the drinking culture and sexual advances made by her supervisors. But according to the suit, she was told that “it was just her leadership being nice and trying to be friends with her.“
In order to get away from all of the alleged harassment in the IT department, Doe applied to and was rejected by numerous open positions at the company. The suit then claims that Doe complained in writing to Blizzard’s at the time president Allen J. Brack about the alleged harassment she was receiving. It was apparently only after this that she was able to move to a different role. But this also supposedly led to lower status and a significant salary decrease.
In November 2021, Does said that she applied for an executive assistant position. But due to her press conference in December, her application was rejected. The suit apparently seeks a number of court orders. This includes requiring Activision to implement a rotating human resources department to avoid conflicts of interest of managers. As well as retaining a neutral investigation firm, the firing of CEO Bobby Kotick, and other demands.
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