Did Newsom Californicate with the Activision Blizzard suit? | This Week in Business
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Thursday 14th April 2022
This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check back every Friday for a new entry.
The ongoing Activision Blizzard workplace harassment scandal took another turn this week as a lawyer at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing -- which kicked everything off when it filed a lawsuit against the publisher last July -- resigned, saying in a letter to staff that she was doing so in protest of the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom's interference in the case.
The lawyer, DFEH assistant chief council Melanie Proctor, said that Newsom's office had been demanding to know the DFEH's strategy for the suit in advance. The final straw that prompted Proctor's resignation was the sudden firing of her boss, DFEH chief counsel Janette Wipper.
QUOTE | "As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision's counsel." - Proctor's resignation letter, implying Newsom's motive.
Newsom has since called claims of interference "categorically false."
This wouldn't be the first bit of interference the DFEH has had to fight through. Within a couple months of the state agency filing its original suit, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed its own lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, and agreed to settle it the same day.
The DFEH objected to the settlement and its insultingly small $18 million fund set up for "eligible claimants." (I would use the term "victims of sexual harassment and gender discrimination," but the settlement of course
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
