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The head of Blizzard’s human resources department became the second executive to leave the company today in the wake of a recently filed discrimination lawsuit. As reported by Bloomberg, Jesse Meschuk, the company’s head of global human resources, has now departed the company, shortly after Blizzard president J. Allen Brack also left the company.
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson confirmed to GameSpot that “Jesse Meschuk is no longer with the company,” but declined to comment further. There has been no official word regarding whether the departures of Meschuk and Brack are a result of Activision Blizzard taking action.
It also appears that Meschuk deleted his Twitter account, although it’s unknown exactly when that happened. Meschuk was not named directly in the lawsuit like Brack was; however, the lawsuit alleged that Blizzard’s HR department was complicit in the harassment of employees.
The lawsuit, filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in July, alleged that victims of harassment were “discouraged from complaining as human resource personnel were known to be close to alleged harassers.” In a report from Axios, a dozen current and former Activision Blizzard employees said that not only did the company’s HR department not help victims, it actively discounted and dismissed them. One of the people quoted by Axios said HR would regularly respond to attempted reports of harassment with statements such as, “This isn’t a fight you want.”
“We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a letter responding to the allegations. “Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.”
A Shareholder also filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, claiming that the company made “false and misleading” statements about the ongoing investigation by California. Activision Blizzard employees also staged a walkout last week, demanding the company make changes and address the accusations brought forth in the lawsuit.
