The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has amended its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard on behalf of female employees. According to Axios Gaming, the DFEH lawsuit now includes temporary and contract workers in addition to regular Activision Employees, with court documents amended to read “workers” instead of “employees” in order to be more inclusive and allow additional testimony in the DFEH investigation.
The DFEH is also alleging that Activision Blizzard has attempted to obstruct the investigation by destroying "documents related to investigations and complaints.” The documents were held by Activision Blizzard HR personnel but were allegedly shredded before the DFEH could review them.
Activision Blizzard is being sued by the California DFEH for what it calls a “fratboy workplace culture” where female staff were belittled and abused in addition to facing discriminatory hiring and salary practices. Activision’s initial response to the suit was to deny all allegations and then hire an anti-unionization law firm in order to quell rising anger from employees appalled by Activision Blizzard's actions.
Workers staged a walkout in late July demanding greater worker participation in hiring and setting HR policies, an end to forced arbitration when harassment is reported, and greater pay transparency to ensure equal pay between male and female staff. Activision Blizzard has yet to acknowledge any of these demands.
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson denies the new allegations of interference brought forward by the DFEH, saying it has "complied with every proper request in support of its review even as we had been implementing reforms to ensure our workplaces are welcoming and safe for every employee." Furthermore, the spokesperson said it was "not true" that Activision Blizzard shredded HR documents to prevent them from being obtained by the DFEH.
Since news of the lawsuit broke, horrific stories of abuse have emerged from former Activision Blizzard employees. Multiple employees have left the company, including former Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, and Diablo 4 lead designer Jesse McCree.