In context: It’s been virtually a 12 months since office harassment allegations plunged Activision Blizzard right into a morass of lawsuits, regulatory investigations, and calls for for CEO Bobby Kotick to step down. The firm’s Board of Directors shaped a Workplace Responsibility Committee to analyze the allegations.
On Thursday, the Activision Blizzard’s Workplace Responsibility Committee turned within the outcomes of its inside investigation to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The probe concluded that the corporate was not responsible of wrongdoing and didn’t foster a “fratboy tradition” of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. The discovering sparked a flurry of sarcasm on social media.
“Contrary to most of the allegations, the Board and its exterior advisors have decided that there isn’t any proof to counsel that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever deliberately ignored or tried to downplay the situations of gender harassment that occurred and had been reported,” the Schedule 14A submitting reads.
Having carried out an intensive investigation of myself, I’ve decided that the cookies ate themselves. The crumbs discovered on my face and arms might’ve been from any variety of cookie like substances that weren’t the truth is cookie’s.
— ACO Runner for freebies. (@ACOrunner) June 16, 2022
The committee admitted that there have been some substantiated situations of gender harassment however discovered no proof supporting the conclusion that senior management or the Board tolerated or had been even conscious of the habits. The submitting additionally outlined actions taken to repair the prevailing issues however was consistently bombarded with smear items from the media.
“While the Board and administration have applied … steps to proceed to enhance the office, it should be stated that the Company has been topic to an unrelenting barrage of media criticism that makes an attempt to color all the Company (and lots of harmless workers) with the stain of a really small portion of our worker inhabitants who engaged in dangerous habits and had been disciplined for it.”
The submitting and the investigation it discusses won’t finish the continued authorized actions. Activision Blizzard has already settled the EEOC lawsuit for $18 million. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing nonetheless has lively litigation in opposition to the corporate however has been slowed down for a scarcity of info. It can also be wrangling filings from former workers and an open SEC investigation.
