Two different US employment watchdog groups have sued Activision Blizzard over allegations of discrimination and harassment at the company. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed suit in July, and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought a separate suit in September. Activision Blizzard and the EEOC reached an $18 million settlement soon after, which has not yet been finalised – and now the DFEH is raising an objection, saying that this settlement would hurt its own case.
In its intervention (filed on October 6 and brought to public attention by journalist Stephen Totilo), the DFEH says that the proposed settlement "contains provisions sanctioning the effective destruction and/or tampering of evidence critical to the DFEH's case, such as personnel files and other documents referencing sexual harassment, retailation, and discrimination."
On October 8, the EEOC filed its own objection (brought to public attention by the Opening Arguments podcast), alleging that two key lawyers in its own investigation of Activision Blizzard left to the DFEH investigation.
The EEOC claims that this is a violation of California's Rules of Professional Conduct, and as a result requests that the court "disallow DFEH's intervention motion and bar DFEH counsel from providing further work product or advice to current counsel."
In simpler , California says the federal settlement with Activision Blizzard will hurt its own case against the company. The federal body says the California investigators have violated professional conduct rules by jumping ship between the two groups.
Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit reached an agreement with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission "to settle claims and to further strengthen policies and programs to prevent harassment and discrimination".