The American video game publisher Activision Blizzard, creator of the blockbuster "Call of Duty", is accused by a California authority of promoting a culture of harassment against a background of unequal careers, in addition to similar accusations affecting other companies in the sector. "Women are the object of constant sexual harassment, in particular having to continually reject sexual comments (...) and advances" from collaborators, details a complaint filed Tuesday by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), an agency of the state of California responsible for investigating civil law cases.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, details some games that male employees engage in, against the background of alcohol consumption and sexist remarks against their female colleagues, who represent approximately 20% of employees.
"Male employees proudly arrive at work drunk, play video games for long periods of time during their office hours and delegate their work to women," the document says.
"They joke about their sexual relations, speak openly about women's bodies and joke about rape," the complaint continues, adding that the accusations of sexual harassment also relate to "high-ranking executives".
It also echoes a drama that affected the company, the suicide of an employee during a business trip accompanied by a male supervisor.
Women "assigned to lower wages"
The wage policy is also pointed out in the company which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, as are the positions of responsibility, to which "very few women reach". They are "assigned lower wages and less prestigious career opportunities," and start with lower wages than men, it is written.
Finally, the DFEH accuses Activision of having failed to deal with employee complaints. "Numerous complaints relating to cases of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation have been filed with the human resources department and officials, including the president of (Activision's subsidiary), Blizzard Entertainment, Allen Black." However, some of these complaints have been publicized because members of the HR department are suspected of being close to suspected harassers. Asked by AFP, the group did not comment on the case immediately.
These accusations come a few days after a complaint filed by two former employees at the Bobigny judicial court (Seine-Saint-Denis) for “institutional harassment” against the French video game publisher Ubisoft. Ubisoft had already been splashed last year by multiple revelations about the sexist and violent behavior of several of its executives. The American video game publisher and developer Riot Games, behind the famous League of Legends, and his French boss, Nicolo Laurent, were sued by a former employee in February in a Los Angeles court.
