A total of around 1,000 Activision Blizzard workers have signed a join letter that states it’s response to workplace allegations of sexual harassment “disgusting and insulting”.
The famous company that is is behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft was sued last week by the state of California for behavior described by the victims as resembling a “frat house”.
‘Quest For Equality’
The company has denied all such allegations about ignoring harassment complaints at workplace.
The letter to management by employees said such ignorance had hurt “quest for equality”.
The allegations against Activision were contained in an official file from the California Department of Housing and Fair Employment (DFEH) after a two-year investigation.
It included allegations of sexual harassment of female employees by their male supervisors or bosses; a culture of ignoring the grievances and retaliation against women who have submitted complaints; and discrimination against women in areas such as equal opportunities for leadership and promotion.
What Did The Company Say?
Activision has responded to these allegations calling them false accusations against them, and referred to the official filing as “disgraceful and unprofessional”.
Former employees took to social media and said the DFEH report reflected their experience in the company.
The joint letter of the employees was read by several American sports, games and news websites, including Bloomberg, Kotaku, and Polygon – it strongly criticizes the company’s response to the allegations.
The Joint Letter By Employees
“Categorising the claims that have been made as ‘distorted, and in many cases false’ creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims,” it reads.
“To claim this is a ‘truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit’, while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable,” another passage said.
What Do The Employees Want?
The letter exhorted the authorities to issue official statements to highlight the seriousness of the allegations and to “show compassion” to the victims.
Some stores reported that about 1,000 employees had signed the letter since Monday and others put the figure slightly below 800.
Activision Blizzard has approximately 10,000 employees.
