California accuses Activision's HR department of shredding documents related to its ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit

• The game company behind "Call of Duty" and "Diablo" is being sued by the state of California.
• A two-year investigation found that female employees faced "constant sexual harassment," court documents say.
• The company has denied shredding evidence related to the investigation.

The blockbuster video game company behind some of the world's biggest video game franchises is being sued by California.

The suit - filed on July 20 to the Los Angeles Supreme Court - comes after a two-year investigation by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing. It accuses "Call of Duty" maker Activision of fostering a "pervasive frat boy" culture where women are paid less for the same jobs that men perform, regularly face sexual harassment, and are targeted for reporting issues.

In a new filing Wednesday, the state expanded its complaint to include more charges against Activision - including an allegation that "documents related to investigations and complaints were shredded by human resource personnel," Axios first reported.

Beyond full-time female employees at the company, the suit now reportedly includes temporary workers as well.

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The suit focuses on two primary violations - sexual harassment and discriminatory practices - and offers several examples of each.

"A newly promoted male supervisor delegated his responsibilities to his female subordinates in favor playing 'Call of Duty,'" the state claims. One female employee who had taken on management responsibilities on the games team was told she couldn't be promoted by her male supervisor because "she might get pregnant and like being a mom too much."

In the case of sexual harassment, female employees reported being hit on, having comments made about their breasts, and jokes about rape being made at work. In one example cited in the lawsuit, "a female employee committed suicide while on a company trip due to a sexual relationship she had been having with her male supervisor."

In the wake of California's DFEH making the litigation public, several Activision executives have stepped down - including the head of beloved "Diablo" studio Blizzard Entertainment, J. Allen Brack, and the company's head of human resources.

Activision representatives didn't respond to a request for comment, but the company gave the following statement to Axios: "With regards to claims that we have destroyed information by shredding documents, those claims are not true. We took appropriate steps to preserve information relevant to the DFEH investigation."

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