A veteran Activision Blizzard executive claims the “Call of Duty” maker canned him for “too many old white guys,” according to a lawsuit.
James Reid Venable, 57, filed an age discrimination lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court last week against the company, which completed its $69 billion merger with Microsoft last October.
The lawsuit cites Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick allegedly saying in an executive meeting that the company's “problem” was “too many old white people.”
Kotick resigned last month after the company agreed to pay about $54 million to settle discrimination lawsuits brought by the California Department of Civil Rights on behalf of women who said they were subjected to constant sexual harassment.
It is not clear when Kotick made the “ageist” comment.
Venable, who was the company's senior director of business operations, alleged that his former supervisors “retaliated against and discriminated against” him after he filed a complaint with human resources, according to the complaint. This was reported by the website Law360.
Mr. Venable has been promoted several times since joining the company 10 years ago because he was an “outstanding executive,” according to the filing.
Two other executives at the company, both white men in their 50s, left the company “at least in part because of Mr. Kotick's ageist comments,” the lawsuit alleges.
Mr. Venable claimed in his lawsuit that his boss was among the executives who left the company. Upon leaving the company, the executive recommended that Venable be promoted and that two divisions within the company be combined under Venable's “management and oversight.”
However, Activision management decided to promote Jonathan Lee to chief operating officer of the central technology division instead.
“Plaintiff has been informed and believes that the decision to promote a substantially younger and less experienced employee over Plaintiff was based on a movement within Activision to eliminate the “old white people''; ,” the lawsuit alleges.
Under Lee's administration, Venable was subjected to a “hostile work environment” that included “aggressive conduct.” [Venable’s] performance” and “downgrade” [his] performance review,” the lawsuit alleges.
Venable claimed in his lawsuit that he was given the lowest salary increase in his nearly 10 years at Activision: 1.75% above his base salary.
He also alleged in his complaint that non-white subordinates were given significantly larger “growth stock” shares.
According to the complaint, women in Venable's department complained to human resources that Venable's “white male privilege” was a “factor in performance growth being lower than expected.”
Venable called the accusations “defamation” in his lawsuit.
Last March, he filed a complaint with the human resources department, alleging that the company “failed to protect” him from “discriminatory and defamatory accusations,” and demanded an investigation.
Venable claimed in his lawsuit that his complaints to human resources were “ignored and not taken seriously.”
Venable said in a complaint in August that he was one of seven employees “ranging in age from 47 to 64” who were fired by the company as part of a so-called “restructuring” of its central technology division. Stated.
Venable said Activision's stated reason for the layoffs was “restructuring,” given that the division is “currently hiring and expanding based on online postings to the company's website and external job sites.” He claimed that the statement was “false and pretentious.”
He is seeking unspecified damages for loss of income, along with legal costs.
The Post has reached out to Venable and Activision Blizzard for comment.
with post wire
