Ex-Activision exec accuses publisher of discriminating against "old white guys"
A former Activision executive has sued the publisher in California state court accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law, as reported by Law360.
The suit was filed earlier this week by a 57-year-old former tech executive who worked for the company from 2014 until being laid off as part of a restructuring in the Activision Blizzard's Central Tech department last August.
The lawsuit gives several examples to establish that Activision Blizzard discriminated against him, starting with statements Bobby Kotick allegedly made at a leadership conference that the "problem" with Activision Blizzard is that "there are too many old white guys." (The suit doesn't say exactly when the conference was.)
It says a pair of white executives left the company shortly afterwards, saying their departures were "based, at least in part, on Kotick's ageist remarks."
One of those departing executives recommended the plaintiff as his replacement, the suit says, but he was passed over in favor of a younger non-white employee who then became his manager. The suit accuses that manager of creating a hostile work environment, and criticizing his work such that his merit-based base salary increase for the year was the lowest he received during his tenure at Activision.
The suit notes that a woman in his department complained to human resources about her own merit-based increase being below expectations, saying she made false and defamatory remarks about him to human resources and his manager.
The plaintiff responded by filing his own complaint with human resources, accusing the company of failing "to protect Plaintiff from the discriminatory and defamatory accusations."
"Plaintiff asked for
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
