Blizzard Employee Publicly Says She Was Demoted After Filing HR Complaint About Sexual Harassment

A current employee of Activision Blizzard spoke publicly during a press conference today about the alleged “frat boy culture detrimental to women” she’s experienced at the company, as well as sexual harassment, retaliation that included demotion, and more. 

Report first by Polygon, the employee in question, named Christine, spoke publicly during a press conference held outside of Blizzard Irvine’s headquarters. Christine was represented by famed lawyer Lisa Bloom, who has represented women in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases against defendants such as Bill O’Reilly and Bill Cosby. According to Polygon, During Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial, Bloom was also an advisor. 

Christine has been at Blizzard for four years and while there, she said she’s experienced unwanted sexual advances, inappropriate touching, and more. 

Christine read from an prepared statement during the conference which was streamed live on Instagram. Here’s what she said, in full: 

“My name is Christine. For more than 4 years, I worked for Blizzard Entertainment. It is a division within Activision. This is where I work today. I didn’t want to have to be up here doing this, but we need to make major changes at Activision Blizzard. My dream job was working at Blizzard. When I was first introduced to the amazing people at Blizzard I knew it was somewhere I wanted and could do well in my profession. It was an amazing opportunity to work with a team that cared so deeply about its employees. This didn’t work out for me. Since I’ve been employed at Blizzard, I’ve been subjected to rude comments about my body, unwanted sexual advances, inappropriately touched, subjected to alcohol-infused team events and cube crawls, invited to have casual sex with my supervisors, and surrounded by a frat boy culture that’s detrimental to women. 

My supervisors told me they laughed at my complaints and said I could forget it. I started to leave work to avoid the sexual remarks and groping. I was not allowed to contact HR. They said that harassers were trying to get along with me. They did not violate the law, I was assured. I was then demoted after I reported the sexual harassment. The harassment continued and I was retaliated at. I’ve been denied my full profit sharing, denied shares at the company, and have had minimal raises in the four years I’ve been employed at Blizzard.

My mental health has suffered from trying to maintain my job within this hostile workplace environment. I’m up here today because I want to fight for a safe work environment for employees. Although Blizzard is home to some great employees, we must ensure that they feel supported and safe by those in leadership positions. We also need to hold individuals accountable for their actions. Thank you to everyone here today and to everyone fighting for a better Blizzard.” 

Bloom stated that Christine and Bloom have several demands for Blizzard’s attention during the press conference. You can see them all below. 

1. “We demand a streamlined, fast, fair process for victims to resolve their legal claims with an expanded victim compensation fund. Christine is not entitled to file a lawsuit against this company and continue fighting for its rights with the large lala firms it has retained. Funds in excess of 100 million should be established. Participate in the setting of rules with victim advocates and allow victims to make claims to compassionate claim administrators, who are known for caring about victims. Let’s get this done now.”

2. “We demand a real apology to Christine and the many other victims who have to live with the fallout from being sexually harassed, ignored, demeaned, and retaliated against every day.”

3. “We demand a review by a neutral third party – not a big law defense firm – of the career damage employees like Christine have endured, and then fix it. Give her the job she’s entitled to. Don’t hold her sexual harassment reporting against her. She should be praised for wanting to make the company better.”

Activision Blizzard gave Polygon the following statement when asked about today’s press conference: 

Our employees, both current and past, have shown courage in reporting misconduct. We are deeply sorry to anyone who was hurt by someone’s conduct. We have reiterated in recent communications that this conduct does not conform to our standards, expectations and the daily lives of most employees. We do not allow sexual harassment, sexual misconduct or retaliation in our industry. Employees who do not live up to these values will be punished. We won’t tolerate it. 

Our company will create an environment that we all can be proud of. Our compliance and human resources departments are undergoing significant restructuring and improvement. Reporting systems have been improved and reporting is simplified. Transparency in our investigation processes has also been enhanced. Safety and support for all our employees is our number one priority, including those who are suffering, will continue to be our highest priority.

Christine’s press conference comes after months of turmoil at Activision Blizzard that includes multiple lawsuits and more. You can catch up on everything Game Informer’s reporting of this ongoing Activision Blizzard story here. 

[Source: Polygon]