Activision Blizzard is Feeling the Heat - Another Lawsuit, Employee Distrust
Emotions in the Activision Blizzard case continue to rise, fanned by by the publication of more facts. Company's employees began to unite in a coalition of workers, which strongly opposes cooperation with the law firm WilmerHale. Also the shareholders have lost patience and have decided to file a separate class action lawsuit.
- Activision Blizzard employees have formed the ABK Workers Alliance, which has sent a letter to company's CEO Bobby Kotick urging him to give up on the services of the law firm WimerHale;
- In the meantime, Kotick has announced that he will improve working conditions at the company and hold all those guilty of harassment and discrimination accountable;
- The company's shareholders have decided to pursue a separate class action lawsuit against the company for withholding information about the DEFH's investigation.
The heat around Activision Blizzard is rising after it has become persona non grata of game dev in recent weeks. All thanks to a lawsuit filed against the company, which exposed the alleged practices taking place behind closed office doors: discrimination, sexual harassment and mobbing. And while the company's executives have promised to improve, and the first heads have already rolled - J. Allen Brack, ex-CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, has stepped down - employees in various departments of Activision Blizzard still do not believe in the good intentions of the management. The result of the events of recent days is another open letter from a group of employees (associated in the ABK Workers Alliance), in which they call on the CEO of the company to withdraw from cooperation with the law firm WilmerHale.
Company interest or employee interest?
As you may remember, Activision Blizzard wanted to cooperate with WilmerHale in an internal audit, aimed at showing irregularities in the company. However, this law firm did not win the trust of those employed at the company - primarily because of the reputation, as it is known for being called upon to take down unionization attempts. WilmerHale was known for working with large corporations, and according to many opinions, its job is to protect the interests of the company, not the workers. The ABK Workers Alliance letter to Bobby Kotick reads (via IGN):
:"We reject the selection of WilmerHale for the following reasons:
WilmerHale’s pre-existing relationships with Activision Blizzard and its executives create an unacceptable conflict of interest.
Activision Blizzard has already been a client of WilmerHale, who you used to dispute the Diverse Candidate Search Policy proposed by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund and UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust earlier in 2021.
Frances Townsend is known to have relationships with multiple partners at WilmerHale, including former FBI Director Robert Mueller.
WilmerHale has a history of discouraging workers’ rights and collective action. WilmerHale states on their public website that their services include “advising on union awareness and avoidance”.
WilmerHale used anti-collective action tactics in their work with Amazon & Uber. 0 In media portrayals, WilmerHale is regularly referred to as a “Union Busting Firm”. We are already seeing the effects of this ideology in actions that leadership has taken to restrict our freedom of association since last week, including reducing the size of listening sessions and limiting access to those sessions.
The WilmerHale partner leading this investigation, Stephanie Avakian, specializes in protecting the wealthy and powerful.
WilmerHale outlined Avakian’s work as: “...counseling and defending financial institutions, public and private companies, hedge funds, accounting firms, investment advisors, boards, corporate executives, and individuals facing regulatory and criminal investigations and litigation with the government."
In Stephanie’s speech highlighting her successes with the SEC, all of her significant examples included achievements in favor of investors, retail clients, and customers, but does not once mention employees or laborers [9]. We need legal representation that centers on the concerns of our current employees, rather than investors."
Admittedly, yesterday Kotick announced, that the company will do everything it can to hold those responsible for any bad practices accountable and take "swift action to ensure a safe and welcoming work environment for all employees," but that's unlikely to put out the fire under the Blizzard executive's feet.
Shareholders have had enough
This is not the end of Activision Blizzard's problems. The company will have to face another lawsuit - this time filed by the company's shareholders, who took it to court for "concealing information about harassment cases". The corporation allegedly withheld the information that it was under investigation by the DEFH (California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) from the shareholders.
In the lawsuit, the victims claim that executives, including Kotick, and CFO Dennis Durkin "were aware of or recklessly disregarded the fact that false and misleading statements about the company were being published." This was said to have exposed shareholders to financial harm. The lawsuit also claims that Activision Blizzard was said to have received "numerous complaints of unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation that were made to HR and executives that were not addressed," which reflects all the more negatively on the image of the entire corporation.
The lack of information sharing between the company and shareholders was said to have led to the company's stock being artificially inflated based on faulty data. The authors of the lawsuit will demand compensation from Activision Blizzard.
