American video game holding company, Activision Blizzard Inc. has fired more than 20 of its employees on Tuesday. The said individuals, including some senior developers, were allegedly involved in sexual harassment and discrimination at the workplace. Additionally, 20 other employees are facing disciplinary action.
Activision terminated the employees in question as there was an increase in the number of reports of workplace harassment over the years. The Company further informed the employees in a letter that it will expand its ethics and compliance team in a bid to create a more accountable workplace and company culture. It plans to add about 19 new members to its ethics and compliance teams, of which two will be specifically dedicated to overseeing investigations into cases reported from EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia Pacific) regions.
The Fortune 500 company will also be submitting a report anonymously on the issue, and will adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards any retaliation from its employees in the process. They further said in the letter that individuals involved in incidences of workplace harassment will be terminated or will face disciplinary action in the future.
The move comes as the Company continues to battle lawsuits, which are being investigated by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) at the moment. The EEOC has found out that, in the past three years, the Company has failed to take corrective and preventive measures on the sexual-harassment complaints filed by its employees, according to the filing made in the US District Court of the Central District of California.
Earlier this year, the Californian Department of Fair Employment and Housing, had It accused the gaming company of failing to check a culture that discriminated against women employees and subjected them to harassment, retaliation and pay disparity.
