Court to Approve Activision Agreement With EEOC
29 Março 2022 - 4:02PM
Business Wire
This morning the federal court indicated it would approve
Activision Blizzard’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) settlement with the EEOC
today. That settlement paves the way to compensate and make amends
to eligible claimants.
“The agreement we reached with the EEOC last year reflected our
unwavering commitment to ensure a safe and equitable working
environment for all employees,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby
Kotick. “Our goal is to make Activision Blizzard a model for the
industry, and we will continue to focus on eliminating harassment
and discrimination from our workplace. The court’s approval of this
settlement is an important step in ensuring that our employees have
mechanisms for recourse if they experienced any form of harassment
or retaliation.”
As part of the agreement with the EEOC, Activision agreed
to:
- Create an $18 million fund to compensate eligible
claimants.
- Continue enhancing policies, practices, and training to prevent
harassment and discrimination in the workplace, including by
implementing an expanded performance-review system. These
improvements are underway.
- Engage a neutral, third-party equal employment opportunity
consultant – a non-employee who must be approved by the EEOC – who
will provide ongoing oversight of the Company’s compliance with the
agreement. This independent consultant’s findings will be reported
directly to the EEOC and Activision Blizzard’s Board of
Directors.
- Hire an internal EEO coordinator with relevant experience in
gender discrimination, harassment, and related retaliation to
assist the Company. Stacy Jackson began this position on March
16.
Today’s milestones come as Activision continues to enhance its
workplace culture. Activision has already taken the following
steps:
- Developed a new zero-tolerance policy on harassment and
retaliation company-wide;
- Quadrupled the size of its Ethics & Compliance team, adding
a VP of Ethics and Compliance, a Senior Director of Investigations,
a Senior Manager of Ethics & Compliance Analytics &
Assessments, a Director of Ethics and Compliance Investigations and
Third Party Risk Management, two Directors of Workplace
Investigations, and two Directors of Ethics who support training
initiatives and our Way2Play Heroes, who are employee volunteers
who help others understand reporting options, champion speaking up,
and advise leadership on how to strengthen our overall ethics and
compliance program;
- Significantly increased investment in related training;
- Enhanced transparency with new reporting on pay equity and
diversity representation;
- Contributed $1 million to WIGI to advance the success of women
in the global games industry;
- Waived required arbitration for individual sexual harassment
and discrimination claims for claims arising out of events after
October 28, 2021;
- Launched a new tool that tracks–for every single hire–data on
the representation and presence of women and underrepresented
ethnic group candidates at applicant, interview, and hiring stages
of our recruiting process. This tool will enable us to provide
transparency on our diversity progress as well as helping to
reinforce our objective of having diverse candidate slates for open
positions;
- Developed stricter alcohol policies company-wide;
- Recently launched Your Upward Feedback program, which
facilitated more than 90% of our managers receiving personal
feedback;
- Launched Level Up U, a paid training program designed to teach
participants game development and prepare successful program
participants for engineering roles within the Company.
In addition, in October 2021, Activision set a goal of
increasing the representation of women and non-binary employees by
50% in the next five years. It also has committed to invest $250
million over the next 10 years in initiatives that foster expanded
opportunities in gaming and technology for under-represented
communities.
“We are gratified that the federal court that reviewed our
settlement with the EEOC is finding that it is ‘fair, reasonable
and adequate and advance(s) the public interest.’ The Court’s
approval is a vital step in our journey to ensuring that everyone
at Activision Blizzard always feels safe, heard and empowered. We
hope the court’s findings – including its view that many of the
objections raised about our settlement were inaccurate and
speculative – will dispel any confusion that may exist. With all of
the terms of the settlement reviewed and approved, we can move
forward,” Kotick concluded.
About Activision Blizzard
Our mission, to connect and engage the world through epic
entertainment, has never been more important. Through communities
rooted in our video game franchises we enable hundreds of millions
of people to experience joy, thrill and achievement. We enable
social connections through the lens of fun, and we foster purpose
and a sense of accomplishment through healthy competition. Like
sport, but with greater accessibility, our players can find purpose
and meaning through competitive gaming. Video games, unlike any
other social or entertainment media, have the ability to break down
the barriers that can inhibit tolerance and understanding.
Celebrating differences is at the core of our culture and ensures
we can create games for players of diverse backgrounds in the 190
countries our games are played.
As a member of the Fortune 500 and as a component company of the
S&P 500, we have an extraordinary track record of delivering
superior shareholder returns for over 30 years.
Our enduring franchises are some of the world’s most popular,
including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Warcraft®, Overwatch®,
Diablo®, StarCraft®, Candy Crush™, Bubble Witch™, Pet Rescue™ and
Farm Heroes™. Our sustained success has enabled the company to
support corporate social responsibility initiatives that are
directly tied to our franchises. As an example, our Call of Duty
Endowment has helped find employment for over 90,000 veterans.
Learn more information about Activision Blizzard and how we
connect and engage the world through epic entertainment on the
company's website, www.activisionblizzard.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press
release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning
of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in
some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,”
“proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates” “expects,”
“plans,” “intends” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or
other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to
identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are
subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that
may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the
Company’s current expectations. These and other risks are described
in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on
Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on
Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange
Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking
statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only
as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no
obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of
this press release.
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