Chemical spill could be cause of stinky water in Puslinch, Ont., new report says
People living in Puslinch, Ont. may have the answer to why their water smelled so bad last year.
Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick admitted that the gaming company's response to a California discrimination lawsuit was "tone deaf" amid a growing employee backlash and accusations of a "frat boy" work culture.
"Every voice matters — and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future," Kotick said in a note to employees on Tuesday. "I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding."
Kotick's response came hours before hundreds of employees staged a walkout on Wednesday to pressure the company to do more to address a host of issues including unequal pay, gender discrimination and harassment.
Those issues burst into the open last week, when California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing, filed a lawsuit accusing Activision Blizzard — the company behind popular video games such as "Call of Duty," "World of Warcraft" and "Candy Crush" — of fostering a "frat boy" work culture where female employees have to "continually fend off unwanted sexual comments and advances by their male coworkers."
The complaint also alleges that "the company's executives and human resources personnel knew of the harassment and failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful conduct, and instead retaliated against women who complained."
The company's director of corporate communications, Kelvin Liu, blasted the state's filing and investigation as "inaccurate" and "distorted" in a statement to CNN Business following the lawsuit.
Several former employees have detailed their experiences at Activision Blizzard on social media since the lawsuit was filed, and more than 2,000 current and former employees signed a petition on Monday slamming the company's initial pushback against the lawsuit's claims as "abhorrent and insulting."
The petition also cited an internal statement by Frances Townsend, a former George W. Bush administration counterterrorism official and Activision Blizzard's executive vice president of corporate affairs, in which she reportedly described the lawsuit's allegations as "factually incorrect, old and out of context."
Wednesday's walkout aims to "improve conditions for employees at the company, especially women, and in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups," according to a document shared with CNN Business. Its demands of leadership include an end to mandatory arbitration clauses in all employee contracts, changing hiring and promotion policies to improve representation within the company, and publication of compensation data.
Participants of the walkout are also calling on company leadership to hire a third party to audit Activision Blizzard's reporting structure, human resources department and executive staff. "It is imperative to identify how current systems have failed to prevent employee harassment, and to propose new solutions to address these issues," the document said.
In his note to employees, Kotick announced he had hired the law firm WilmerHale to review the company's policies "to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace." He urged employees to reach out to the law firm's team led by Stephanie Avakian, a former director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement.
"Of course, NO retaliation will be tolerated," Kotick said. He also said the company would do more to support its workers, creating "safe spaces, moderated by third parties," for employees to share their issues.
"We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the company," he said. "Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated."
More than 100 Activision Blizzard employees were expected to attend Wednesday's walkout in person outside the company's offices in Irvine, California, a Blizzard employee told CNN Business, while over 1,000 others were expected to participate virtually.
In a letter shared with CNN Business ahead of the walkout on Wednesday, participants said Activision Blizzard's latest responses did not address several of their demands, including an end to forced arbitration, greater pay transparency and employee involvement in selecting a third party to audit the company's processes.
"While we are pleased to see that our collective voices ... have convinced leadership to change the tone of their communications, this response fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns," the letter said. "Today's walkout will demonstrate that this is not a one-time event that our leaders can ignore."
People living in Puslinch, Ont. may have the answer to why their water smelled so bad last year.
Sheldon Keefe told his players hockey history would remember them one way or another.
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc insists he's not planning a leadership campaign to head the Liberal party, should current leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resign, seemingly quashing rumours he's planning to make a move for his boss' job.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
If you're wondering whether you should splurge or save when it comes to buying skincare products and makeup this summer, we got some answers for you.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
As Ukraine marked its third Easter at war, Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine's east, wounding more than a dozen people, and claimed its troops took control of a village they had been targeting.
How legitimate are claims by some content creators that the average person can earn passive income from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram? Personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says it's quite possible, if you're willing to put in the initial time and effort.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.