California's DFEH Files Motion Against the EEOC's $18 Million Settlement With Activision Blizzard

If you thought that the $18 million settlement between Activision Blizzard and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission came about suddenly and was too small, you're not the only one. California's Department of Fair and Equal Housing, which brought the original discrimination suit against AB that kicked off recent events has objected to the settlement, which it deemed will harm its own efforts to seek proper restitution for victims.

Stephen Totilo of Axios obtained a copy of the DFEH's filing, several pages of which he posted to Twitter. The DFEH claimed that employees' "interests will be negatively impacted by the proposed consent decree" and that Activision Blizzard's agreement with the EEOC "proposes destruction or tampering of evidence necessary to DFEH's case."

In essence, the EEOC agreement is seen by the DFEH as "settling" for a lower amount, in a faster time frame, than could be managed by the DFEH. The situation is similar to the DFEH's objection to the $10 million settlement that Riot Games agreed to in December with victims of its harassment claims.

As such, the DFEH is requesting an ex parte application, claiming "temporal urgency such that immediate and irreparable harm will occur if there is any delay in obtaining relief." The harm, in this case, would be plaintiffs agreeing to the EEOC's proposal, which the DFEH classifies as "uninformed waivers" and the aforementioned destruction of evidence that would conclude the proceedings in a manner unfavorable to the plaintiffs.