Activision Blizzard had a lawsuit brought against it by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in September 2021, just two months after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed its own lawsuit against the company. These were due to allegations of a frat boy work culture, sexism, and mistreatment of women in the workplace. The EEOC lawsuit has now been settled for $18 million, just one fifth of a percent of Activision's $8.8 billion in revenue last year.
As reported by VGC, the settlement amount has now been finalised, and employees can now claim for compensation if they were the victims of sexual harassment, retaliation, or pregnancy discrimination. This would, however, bar them from participating in the DFEH lawsuit against the company, which is why the organisation tried to block the settlement when it was first filed at the end of September 2021.
The DFEH was against the settlement due to the way it impedes its own lawsuit. Activision has already been accused of destroying evidence related to its lawsuit, and this settlement could effectively allow for that to happen.
"The proposed consent decree also contains provisions sanctioning the effective destruction and/or tampering of evidence critical to the DFEH's case, such as personnel files and other documents referencing sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination."
There's also the settlement amount itself. Labour union Communications Workers of America claims $18 million would only grant the maximum settlement for 60 employees.
As noted by VGC, the DFEH has helped to raise the settlement amount in video game lawsuits before, upping a Riot Games settlement from $10 million to $100 million, so it's unfortunate it was not able to successfully intervene this time.
An $18 million settlement is frankly a joke. It's a drop in the ocean for Activision. Before the DFEH lawsuit, Kotick was on a pay packet of $155 million. Now, even after Microsoft's historic buyout of the company, Kotick could get a bonus of $22 million on top of his current $62,500 salary.
$18 million is an insult to employees who have had to deal with repeated union-busting efforts and gaslighting from management, on top of all the alleged harassement at work. One fifth of a percent is all these victims get.