You know that things are not going great for a company when multiple state and federal agencies are all descending on you for various reasons, which is precisely the situation that Activision-Blizzard has been mired in since July. Back in October, the California DFEH raised objections to the settlement that Activision-Blizzard reached with the federal EEOC related to destruction of records and the potential lack of further consequences. However, the judge presiding over the case has officially denied the DFEH’s request to intervene in the settlement, further scolding the two agencies for their rather public feuding over the matter:
This is a bit unseemly […] I feel like I should send the two of you to a mediator, never mind Activision getting involved in this. You apparently have been working well together for a very long time, and you’ll have to be working well together in the future. It seems like not only the defendant but also some of these employees and former employees are going to get caught in the middle here and that’s not appropriate.
It’s worth noting that this judgment does not in and of itself mean the end of what’s happening with the settlement; the court has not yet approved the settlement, merely stopped the DFEH from intervening further in this particular manner. Whether or not it’s a win for Activision-Blizzard thus depends in no small part on your perspective, though it’s clear that the company’s legal troubles regarding ongoing harassment are far from over.
