Activision Blizzard will pay the Securities Exchange Commission $35 million to settle charges that it violated workplace misconduct reporting rules and whistleblower protections. The Call of Duty publisher admits no wrongdoing in the case, which comes less than two years after a bombshell lawsuit by California regulators alleged years of sexual harassment and discrimination at the company.
Today’s SEC order states that Activision Blizzard “lacked controls and procedures” to properly collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct. As a result, the company’s management “lacked sufficient information” to even know if there were certain issues at the company that required public disclosures to investors. In addition, the SEC order also claims Activision Blizzard used separation agreements for departing employees that required them to notify the company if they were contacted for information by the SEC, which would be a violation of whistleblower protections.
“The SEC’s order finds that Activision Blizzard failed to implement necessary controls to collect and review employee complaints about workplace misconduct, which left it without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” Director of the SEC’s Denver Regional Office, Jason Burt, said in a press release. While the company didn’t admit to the charges, it did agree to a cease-and-desist order in addition to the $35 million penalty.
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