California settles Activision Blizzard gender discrimination lawsuit for $54 million

A California regulator has settled its blockbuster lawsuit that alleged a tradition of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard. Now beneath the possession of Microsoft, the gaming firm can pay about $54 million as a part of the settlement, based on a press launch from California’s Civil Rights Division (CRD).

The CRD (previously often called the Division of Truthful Employment and Housing or DFEH) filed this lawsuit in July 2021, alleging that Activision Blizzard had a “frat boy” tradition the place girls had been topic to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Following the swimsuit, workers walked out, executives together with then-Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and Blizzard’s former SVP of HR left the corporate, and, months later, The Wall Road Journal reported that CEO Bobby Kotick had identified of sexual misconduct allegations for years.

Nonetheless, as a part of the settlement settlement, the CRD stated that “no courtroom or any impartial investigation has substantiated any allegations” of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard and that there wasn’t proof of wrongdoing by Kotick, based on The New York Instances. (The corporate advised the SEC final 12 months that an inner investigation discovered “no proof to recommend” that senior executives ignored allegations of gender harassment.) The WSJ additionally reported on the lawsuit on Friday.

If a courtroom approves the settlement, Activision Blizzard can pay about $54,875,000 to “cowl direct reduction to employees and litigation prices,” with $45,750,000 of that going to “a settlement fund devoted to compensating employees,” the CRD says.

Months after California’s lawsuit, Microsoft introduced that it meant to amass Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal. Following a collection of regulatory hurdles, that deal lastly closed in October. Kotick will keep at Activision Blizzard till the tip of the 12 months.