Call Of Duty Maker Sued For Alleged Sexual Harassment Suicide
The parents of an Activision Blizzard employee. Those who committed suicide during a work retreat at Disneyland in 2017 are suing Call of Duty publisher. Allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace contributed to the wrongful death of their daughter. Activision Blizzard had previously dismissed the tragedy as having “nothing to do” with allegations of misconduct at the company.
Content warning: suicide, harassment.
Janet and Paul Moynihan filed a lawsuit on March 3 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, arguing that the sexual harassment Kerry Moynihan experienced during her time at the company was “a significant factor in her death by suicide.” Moynihan, aged 32 at the time and working as a financial manager at Activision, was found dead in her hotel room at Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in April 2017.
According to the lawsuit first reported by Washington PostThe Moynihans were unaware of allegations of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard until the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit last summer. At first, Activision was extremely dismissive of many of the allegations, but Activision has since stepped into $18 million pending settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on similar claims.
“We will be taking the complaint to court, and out of respect for the family, we have no further comment at this time,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said. Washington Post.
The July 2021 DFEH lawsuit, without directly naming her, referred to Moynihan’s suicide and the alleged sexual harassment that preceded it:
In a tragic example of harassment that the defendants allowed to flare up in their offices, an employee committed suicide while on a business trip because of a sexual relationship she had with her male supervisor. …Another employee confirmed that the deceased employee may have suffered other sexual harassment at work prior to her death. In particular, at a festive party before her death, male colleagues handed out a photograph of the deceased’s vagina.
Moynihans
The Moynihans’ lawsuit now lists Greg Restituto as an executive with whom Kerry Moynihan had a sexual relationship. It also alleges that he initially lied to investigators. About the relationship and removed items from Moynihan’s apartment after her death. According to the lawsuit, Activision Blizzard also failed to fully cooperate with the police. Investigation by refusing to hand over Moynihan. And Restituto’s work laptops. As well as Restitutito’s mobile phone, which the company claims was “erased.”
At the time, Activision called it “reprehensible” for DFEH to “draw into a complaint. The tragic suicide of an employee whose death has nothing to do with this case and has nothing to do with her grieving family.” The Moynihan lawsuit now claims otherwise. It describes Activision’s model of making “extraordinary efforts” to “suppress and suppress evidence” of alleged misconduct at the company. According to an investigation conducted in November 2021. To Wall Street MagazineActivision CEO Bobby Kotick stepped in to prevent Treyarch co-head Dan Banting from being fired for sexual harassment.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said he was “deeply concerned” by allegations of Wall Street Magazine report. And more than 1,000 Activision Blizzard employees called for Kotick to step down. In addition, Microsoft entered into negotiations to buy the publisher for $68.7 billion. And after the deal was announced in January praised Kotik’s leadership and “a commitment to real change.”
Last month, Wall Street Magazine reported that the Los Angeles Police Department was subpoenaed for any police records
