Activision Blizzard Slapped With Another Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
Activision Blizzard has been hit with yet another sexual harassment lawsuit by an employee—adding to a mounting pile of complaints from employees, regulators and investors that could threaten the video game developer’s pending $69 billion merger with Microsoft.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on March 23, an anonymous plaintiff referred to as Jane Doe accused the Santa Monica-based company of enabling and failing to prevent workplace sexual harassment, as well as retaliating against her for reporting such behavior.
The complaint alleges that Doe was pressured to take tequila shots on her first day of work, experienced unwelcome touching and sexual comments from supervisors and began taking steps to avoid harassment at work—including dressing “more conservatively” and complaining to supervisors, only to be retaliated against.
Doe began working in Activision’s IT department in 2017 and still is employed by the company. She is represented by Los Angeles-based law firm The Bloom Firm and its founder Lisa Bloom, who previously represented women bringing sexual harassment claims against Bill O’Reilly and Bill Cosby and also advised disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
“This is really an astonishing level of sexual harassment at Activision, and I don't think any other company comes close,” Bloom told dot.LA. “This is a massive company with a massive sexual harassment problem. It is a problem that they have continued to ignore and stall, and the victims are suffering.”
More lawsuits from current and former Activision employees could be on the way: Bloom said she represents eight women with similar grievances to Jane Doe and expects more complaints to be filed in the near future. She explained that she’s avoiding lumping those complaints into one class action lawsuit, to ensure that each victim is adequately paid by the company instead of splitting damages.
Bloom said she’s requesting a jury trial and wants the opportunity to prove that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick should be fired for ignoring numerous complaints about the company’s toxic workplace culture. She added that if The Bloom Firm can prove that Kotick willingly took steps to protect harassers at Activision, it could bring a separate lawsuit directly against him.
“He seems to be utterly incompetent at resolving the sexual harassment crisis that plagues his company,” Bloom said.
A separate lawsuit against Activision was filed earlier this month by the parents of Kerri Moynihan, a former employee who died by suicide during a company retreat in April 2017. That lawsuit alleges that Moynihan killed herself because of the rampant sexual harassment she endured at the company.
Doe is requesting lost earnings, medical damages, punitive damages and several court orders—including one requiring her to receive a promotion she missed out on due to being retaliated against, one to establish a rotating human resources department at Activision and another ending forced arbitration at the company.
The lawsuit also calls for a third-party investigation into Activision’s handling of sexual harassment in its workplace. Bloom said that so far Activision has used its own lawyers to conduct such investigations, which has the effect of intimidating employees and essentially gives the company “free discovery” of facts and evidence before plaintiffs’ counsel.
“Every California employer, upon receiving a complaint of sexual harassment, has a legal obligation to do a prompt, thorough investigation, punish the perpetrators if they find sexual harassment happened [and] protect the victims,” Bloom said. “That has not happened.”
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Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
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