Activision Blizzard Will Pay $54 Million Settlement in Unequal Pay Lawsuit
As reported by VentureBeat, Activision Blizzard has agree to pay a total of roughly $54 million to settle a lawsuit in the state of California. The company was sued by California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) in 2021 after reports emerged with allegations of widespread and systemic sexual harassment and racial discrimination against employees, and unequal pay for women.
As per the agreement between the CRD and Activision Blizzard, the former has stated that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” regarding “systemic or widespread sexual harassment” at the company. Similarly, it has been unable to find evidence “that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned or tolerated a culture of systemic, harassment, retaliation or discrimination”.
In November 2021, reports also claimed that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick had been aware of aforementioned issues at the company, protected abusers, and even made a death threat against an employee. The CRD, however, has said that its investigation found no such evidence against Kotick or the company’s Board.
As per the agreement, Activision Blizzard will pay $46.75 million to women employees who received inequitable pay from 2015-2020, while $9.125 million will be paid to cover legal fees.
Activision Blizzard said in a statement: “We are gratified that we have reached an agreement with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) today, as the CRD has now announced in a press statement. We appreciate the importance of the issues addressed in this agreement and we are dedicated to fully implementing all the new obligations we have assumed as part of it. We want our employees to know that, as the agreement specifies, we are
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