The California Department of Fair Employment & Housing [DFEH] has accused Activision Blizzard of shredding important documents to hinder its lawsuit against the company.
In an update to its filing, first reported by Axios, DFEH claimed that Activision Blizzard is preventing its employees from speaking to the organization, requiring them to go through the company’s management first. The amended filing states that this “directly interferes” with its ongoing investigation and its efforts to remedy the situation. The DFEH also took issue with Activision Blizzard involving law firm WilmerHale, which has a reputation for busting unions and having an existing relationship with the publisher’s executive team.
“With regards to claims that we have destroyed information by shredding documents, those claims are not true,” Activision Blizzard told IGN in response to the allegation. “We took appropriate steps to preserve information relevant to the DFEH investigation.”
The company also provided the following list of measures that it took following the lawsuit:
– Several high-level personnel changes;
– Revamped hiring and recruiting practices requiring diverse interview panels;
– Greater transparency on pay equity;
– Expanded and improved training and investigative capabilities for human resource and compliance staff;
– Created investigation teams outside of business units to support greater independence;
– Restructured divisions to support greater accountability;
– Enhanced review processes to include evaluation of managers by employees;
– Clear boundaries on workplace behavior with a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and other actions that diminish or marginalize.
Activision Blizzard further claims that it has already provided DFEH with “clear evidence” that it does not have the issue of gender pay gaps and promotion disparities.
