Gaming company Activision Blizzard is being sued by a California state agency over alleged sexual harassment, sex discrimination and equal pay violations. The lawsuit includes accusations that women who reported sexual harassment were retaliated against by company brass.
The civil lawsuit was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which claimed in a statement that women in the company "were subjected to constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances." DFEH also alleged that company executives and human resources knew about this and not only didn't stop it, but retaliated against the women who complained.
Additionally, DFEH alleged the company "fostered a sexist culture and paid women less than men despite women doing substantially similar work, assigned women to lower level jobs and promoted them at slower rates than men, and fired or forced women to quit at higher frequencies than men."
Activision Blizzard reportedly responded, saying it takes such allegations seriously. But it also pushed back on DEFH's action, according to Yahoo Finance.
“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past,” the company reportedly said. “We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived.”
Yahoo reports the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and unpaid wages.
Activision Blizzard's games include “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft."
