Activision Blizzard Sued Again; Threats, Surveillance and Interrogations
Activision Blizzard has been hit with another lawsuit. The company was said to have discouraged employees from speaking out about cases of abuse.
- Activision Blizzard faces another lawsuit;
- The company allegedly discouraged employees from speaking out about the abuse;
- Among the methods used are threats, surveillance, and even interrogations.
Controversy has surrounded Activision Blizzard for quite some time now. The company is facing lawsuits from employees, who believe that it applies many unfair practices and tolerates mobbing and sexual harassment. Activision is apparently not interested in solving the problem. In fact, the company recently hired the law firm WilmerHale, which is known for dealing with labor unions. The publisher has also been accused of destroying documents that would incriminate it.
Now to these actions can be added another. As PC Gamer reports, a new lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has been filed in court by a group of employees gathered under the banner of A Better ABK in collaboration with the Communications Workers of America union. The company was accused of conducting activities aimed at discouraging its employees from taking up the subject of abuse. Employees were to be threatened or told not to speak out about working conditions, pay and overtime.
Activision was said to pay special attention to people who had already engaged in activities aimed at improving the situation in the company. According to the information, they faced threats, special surveillance and even interrogations. An anonymous employee quoted by Vice revealed that these actions were taken to get rid of those who spoke out the loudest about the abuses, which led to the first lawsuit.
This is against the law as enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act, one of the main labor laws in the United States. According to this law, employees should be guaranteed the ability to engage in what is known as protected concerted activity. This means the ability of employees to unionize (e.g. in organizations such as A Better ABK) without fear of retaliation from the employer. Instead, Activision's actions were intended to discourage employed individuals from engaging in such activities.
For now, it's hard to say what impact this lawsuit will have on the company. However, we have no doubt that black clouds are gathering over it.
