Activision Blizzard hit with another sexual harassment lawsuit

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A sexual harassment lawsuit has been filed. The suit was filed by the law firm of entertainment lawyer Lisa Bloom. Jane is accusing the company of discriminating against her and subjecting her to sexual harassment. The defendants are named in the suit, and they include three former employees and two current employees.

There are descriptions of sexual harassment in this story.

Mark Skorupa is a former employee of the company and is one of the named defendants in the lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Skorupa made sexual comments and advances towards the senior administrative assistant, including putting his hand on her lap on her first day at work.

The lawsuit attempts to show a pattern of dismissal of complaints by both managers and HR. The company retaliated against her for going to HR with complaints of sexual harassment because she was being nice and trying to be friends with her. Ms. Doe was asked by HR to keep her issues, concerns, recordings, and emails to herself because they could be very damaging to the company.

According to the lawsuit, Skorupa made a number of derogatory comments towards the woman, and the company demoted her and prevented her from getting other jobs. In one instance, she interviewed for a role, but the company hired a less qualified receptionist, who was fired because she was not qualified for the position.

She was offered a new position with a significant decrease in pay after writing to the former president about the harassment and retaliation.

According to the suit, the woman who identified herself as Christine at the conference may be the one who spoke at the press conference about her experiences.

There are more allegations in the lawsuit, which you can read at the bottom of the article.

The two companies that plan to acquire Activision in a deal worth nearly $70 billion didn't reply to requests for comment. The state of California filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company in July. The employee who committed suicide during the company retreat was referenced in the lawsuit, and her parents have since filed a lawsuit against the company. According to The Washington Post, the family believes sexual harassment was a factor in her death.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Bobby Kotick, the company's CEO, had been aware of sexual harassment allegations.