Activision Blizzard Trial Court Rules Temporary Workers Count As Employees

A California Judge in the Activision Blizzard lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has ruled that Temporary and contract workers count as employees, after Activision Blizzard tried to have the lawsuit thrown out on those grounds.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Timothy P Dillon said that although Activision Blizzard tried to argue that temporary and contingent workers don’t count as employees, the fact they’re paid to labor for the company would prove otherwise.

“The court also finds that the FAC has pled facts sufficient to show that the group of female contingent and temporary workers were Defendants “employees”, by alleging that “Defendants  jointly supervised and controlled employee’s conditions of employment, determined rate of pay or method of payment, had authority to hire or fire employees, and maintained employment records.” “.

While the trial has yet to start, this ruling has far bigger implications than just the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. Contract and temporary workers have been subject to unfair treatment from loopholes, with many companies using the contract distinction as a way to not have to offer the protections of a full-time job.

A recent high-profile example of this comes from Activision Blizzard themselves, wherein the sudden termination of QA testers at Raven Software prompted organized action from the studio, calling for a union.

Source: PC Gamer

Join Us!