Another lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard over "rampant sexism"
at the company, reports
Bloomberg Law (thanks
Game Developer). This one is from an individual (listed as Jane Doe), but
echoes the allegations in the two other sexual harassment lawsuits currently
embroiling the company. Here's an excerpt of its claims:
Doe alleges she
was often pressured to drink alcohol, to participate in “cube crawls” where
women were subjected to sexual comments and groping, and to stay late after work
to participate in a game called “Jackbox,” which Doe says she was told was to
determine how well she’d fit in with the group. According to Doe, the game
required each individual to suggest “creative answers” to various questions that
were mostly sexual in nature.
The complaint alleges Doe started to dress “more conservatively” so she wouldn’t
get sexually harassed, and that she tried to distance herself from offsite
leadership dinners. She also complained about the excessive drinking and sexual
advances made by her supervisors, but was told that “it was just her leadership
being nice and trying to be friends with her,” the suit says.
Doe was instructed to keep her concerns to herself because they could be
“damaging” to the company, and she began to face a hostile work environment due
to her complaints, the suit alleges.
To escape the rampant sexism in the IT department, Doe applied to and was
rejected from many other open positions in the company. According to the suit,
Doe complained in writing to Blizzard’s then-president Allen J. Brack about the
sexual harassment and retaliation. Only after that complaint was she offered a
role in a different department, which she accepted despite the lower status and
significant salary decrease.