Following a two-year investigation by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the state has filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for fostering a "frat boy" culture in which female employees are allegedly subjected to unequal pay and sexual harassment.
As reported by Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard is being accused by the state of California of discriminating against female employees at nearly all levels of employment, including in regards to compensation, promotion, assignments, and termination. The state alleges Activision Blizzard’s leadership has failed to address any of these outstanding issues or prevent them from occurring within the workplace. You can read the full details of the lawsuit here.
The suit, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, says Activision Blizzard, which is made up of about 20 percent women, assigns women, and women of color, to "lower paid and lower opportunity levels" with lower starting pay for similar work as their male counterparts.
The documents also accuse Activision Blizzard of fostering a "pervasive 'frat boy' workplace culture in the office. Male employees are said to drink "copious amounts of alcohol" as they make their way through cubicles and "often engage in inappropriate behavior toward female employees."
Male employees are said to come to work hungover, play video games during work "while delegating their responsibilities to female employees, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies, and joke about rape."
The lawsuit also cites one particular incident where a female employee, who was already subjected to intense sexual harassment at the company, committed suicide during a work trip with a male supervisor who allegedly brought inappropriate, sexual items with him on the trip.
The lawsuit is asking for an injunction that will force Activision Blizzard to comply with workplace protections, as well as deliver unpaid wages, pay adjustments, back pay, and lost wages and benefits for female employees.
We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind. We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, the action was taken to address the issue.
The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived. They were required by law to adequately investigate and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve any claims or concerns before going to litigation, but they failed to do so.
Instead, they rushed to file an inaccurate complaint, as we will demonstrate in court. We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family. While we find this behavior to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it is, unfortunately, an example of how they have conducted themselves throughout the course of their investigation. It is this type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California.
The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today. Over the past several years and continuing since the initial investigation started, we’ve made significant changes to address company culture and reflect more diversity within our leadership teams. We’ve updated our Code of Conduct to emphasize a strict non-retaliation focus, amplified internal programs and channels for employees to report violations, including the “ASK List” with a confidential integrity hotline, and introduced an Employee Relations team dedicated to investigating employee concerns.
We have strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and combined our Employee Networks at a global level, to provide additional support. Employees must also undergo regular anti-harassment training and have done so for many years.
We put tremendous effort into creating fair and rewarding compensation packages and policies that reflect our culture and business, and we strive to pay all employees fairly for equal or substantially similar work. We take a variety of proactive steps to ensure that pay is driven by non-discriminatory factors. For example, we reward and compensate employees based on their performance, and we conduct extensive anti-discrimination training including for those who are part of the compensation process.
We are confident in our ability to demonstrate our practices as an equal opportunity employer that fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive workplace for our people, and we are committed to continuing this effort in the years to come. It is a shame that the DFEH did not want to engage with us on what they thought they were seeing in their investigation.
We will see how things work out, but I am not too optimistic for Activision Blizzard, truth to be told these reports are really bringing up some disturbing news on the sunlight. I just hope that all responsible will be brought to justice.
Error Causes
Task View feature inside Windows 11 is actually a great feature, letting you quickly view open windows and virtual desktops. How Task view itself could be reached with keyboard shortcut combination of ⊞ WINDOWS + TAB some users will prefer this way of using it and thus button on the taskbar is something you do not want or need.
There is a very easy way to remove mentioned button and I will show you how to do it.
Right-click the taskbar button itself and click on Hide From Taskbar.
That’s it, you have done it.
Now in order for you to bring it back if you change your mind, you will have to do some extra steps but it is nothing difficult.
Right-click on the taskbar and click on Taskbar settings, you will be lead to Personalization > Taskbar.
Inside locate Taskbar Items and switch Task View to ON, you will see the Task View button right away showing itself again. The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2503. Called RunScript when not marked in progress The installer has encountered an unexpected error installing this package. This may indicate a problem with this package. The error code is 2503. Called Install Finalize when no installation is in progress
Error Causes
I going to admit right here that I am a big fan of Cooler Master PC cases, I like them and they are always one of the things that I consider when building a new PC, overall I like their ideas and quality so personal for me it was quite a surprise to see that they are one that is making a new generation gaming chair.
Now truth to be told Orb X is not your typical gaming chair as you can clearly see from the pictures. The chair itself will come in two colors: white or black and RGB lighting looks to be prominently featured throughout.
The chair itself is advertised as both meant and aimed for professional and gaming crowds but I believe the gaming crowd is in general more interested in this hardware piece.
Hardware is enclosed in a fully motorized shuttle dome which aims to maximize your privacy, it supports a single 49inch display or three 27inch monitors along with surround speakers if you do not wish to use headphones.
It offers an adjustable headrest, lumbar support, and footrest so you can spend some time in it and be comfortable. Controls on the chair itself allow you to raise or lower the dome for easier getting in and out of it.
Orb X also has a compartment in its backside, it folds out and has a sliding tray designed to hold your PC or console. Everything is enclosed so wiring is not the issue.
Overall Orb X seems really like the computer chair of the future, Cooler Master expects to release the Orb X by December 2021, priced around $12,000-$14,000. Error code 0x8007267C is specific to Windows 10. This error is triggered when no DNS server is currently configured in your network settings during the Activation process. If you are fairly confident in your ability to address command-line tools and networking issues, you can follow the steps below to try to remedy the error code on your own. If not, you may need to contact a qualified technician in order to resolve the error successfully.
Error CausesThe cause of Error Code 0X8007267C within the Window 10 system is fairly straightforward. Windows Activation requires a valid DNS server to be configured in order to complete the Activation process; if one is not available or properly configured, then you may see this error code and Activation will fail.
The following methods may help you to resolve this error, but you’ll need to have some familiarity with command-line tools to complete the steps successfully. If these methods do not work or if you are uncomfortable in using the command prompt, you may need to consult a technician to fully resolve this particular error code on the Windows 10 system.
In order to resolve this error code, client connectivity to a DNS server must first be established. The following steps may help you to determine the root problem with your connectivity status:
ping <DNS Server IP address>
If basic connectivity to the DNS server in question is failing, then you will need to resolve that issue before going further in the process.
After troubleshooting the above basic connectivity issues to the DNS server, you can reattempt Windows Activation by using the command below from within an Elevated Command selection:
cscript windowssystem32slmgr.vbs -ato
If the steps above did not work for you, you may want to try the steps found in method 2.
If a DNS server is not connected to your network, you can use an alternative method to complete the Windows Activation process. Bypass Method 1 by using a MAK product key instead to activate the volume license installation. Certain MAK product key providers have a variation on the specific key numbers that you will need to use. If you are using TechNet media or MSDN media, you will have to change the product key listed to the product key provided. The product keys provided by either TechNet media or MSDN media for Windows Server 2008 or for Windows Vista Enterprise will be the MAK product key that you will enter in a later step.
Like the previous method, you will need to have some familiarity or confidence in your ability to operate Command Line tools before proceeding. Once you have found your MAK product key, you’ll need to open a command prompt and use the following command to change the product key to match the MAK product key, which should look something like the example below:
slmgr –ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
After completing the product key change, use the following command to initiate the phone activation wizard, thereby completing the activation of the system:
slui 04
The activation wizard should be able to walk you through the remainder of the process in a step-by-step manner. In addition to appearing as an error code in Windows 10, this particular error may apply to multiple versions of Windows, including:
Steps to address the error code may be different in any of these other versions of Windows. If you have difficulty in resolving the error effectively, seek professional technical help.
