Activision Blizzard Hit with California Employment Lawsuit

Jerome Bonoan initially filed both class action and PAGA claims bundled together in late 2024 in state court, and the defendants– Activision Blizzard and its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment–moved it to federal court. (Under certain conditions, defendants have the right to remove cases from state court to federal court. The case was originally filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County in October 2024, and then Blizzard removed it to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where it was refiled on September 15, 2025.)

Bonoan claims the company shortchanged its workers and violated the California labor code from 2010 to early 2025 by the following:

• Not paying them proper wages for being forced to work through legally mandated rest and meal periods,
• Not allowing them to take breaks or meal breaks,
• Controlling what they did during breaks,
• Not providing second off-duty meal period for some workdays in which these employees were required by defendant to work ten hours of work,
• Failed to provide accurate work statements,
• Underpaid sick pay wages in violation of California Labor Code Section 246,
• Did not include some incentive compensation in workers’ regular rate of pay, which resulted in underpayment of overtime. 

Under the California labor law, and reiterated in Bonoan’s suit, during rest breaks, employers “must relieve employees of all duties and relinquish control over how employees spend their time which includes control over the locations where employees may take their rest period…Employers cannot impose controls that prohibit an employee from taking a brief walk — five minutes out, five minutes back.”

According to Law360, “As a result of their rigorous work schedules, plaintiff and the aggrieved employees were from time to time unable to take thirty- minute off duty meal breaks and were not fully relieved of duty for their meal periods, and the aggrieved employees were required from time to time to perform work as ordered by defendant for more than five hours during some shifts without receiving a meal break.”

Workplace Ethics

The lawsuit also raises concerns regarding workplace ethics and legal obligations. According to court documents, workers reported ongoing pressures and unfair treatment, due to defendant’s reluctance to address formal complaints regarding these work conditions.

This isn’t the first time that Activation Blizzard’s workplace ethics have been questioned. In 2021, the company was sued by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing over claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. The New York Times reported that,” Executives sexually harassed women… and male employees openly joked about rape and drank alcohol while engaging in “inappropriate behavior” toward women [who were] routinely paid less than men for similar work and were less likely to be promoted.” Further, the lawsuit said the company’s executives and human resources department failed to address misconduct when they were informed of it.

Activision said “that is not the Blizzard workplace of today,” and the company “tries to pay employees fairly and has worked to address its culture and improve diversity in recent years”. Clearly, it hasn’t tried hard enough.

The case is Jerome Bonoan v. Blizzard Entertainment Inc. et al., case number 25SMCV05555, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.