After a five year battle that saw cast members take on Disneyland for allegedly paying employees under the Anaheim minimum wage, The Walt Disney Company has agreed to settle for over $200 million.
What’s Happening:
- The Los Angeles Times reports that The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay $233 million to settle a wage theft case at the Disneyland Resort.
- The settlement consists of all lost wages as well as interest and covers more than 50,000 current and former cast members.
- Dating back to February of 2018, the Coalition of Resort Labor Unions released the “Working for the Mouse” survey, which was able to capture information about the economic hardships of Disneyland cast members.
- Co-authored by Dreier and Daniel Fleming, the study found that almost three fourths of employees were unable to afford basic expenses.
- Shortly after results were released, Anaheim voters approved Measure L, the wage law that Disney was accused of violating.
- The measure went into effect on January 1st, 2019, which required Anaheim businesses who received “tax rebates” from the city to pay employees $15 an hour.
- Instead of acting in accordance with local law, Disney began negotiating pay raises through individual theme park unions and union councils.
- Filed in December of 2019, a lawsuit representing 25,000 employees accused Disney of evading the wage law.
- Disney’s response to the suit claimed that the company didn’t receive “tax rebates,” prompting Anaheim City Council to cancel a 45-year ticket tax agreement, which allowed Disneyland to sell tickets without adding on taxes, as well as $267 million tax agreement for a planned luxury hotel that would have been built on the Westside of Downtown Disney.
- However, Judge Claster initially sided with the House of Mouse in 2021.
- The ruling was reversed by the 4th District Court of Appeal because of a tax rebate agreement in a 1996 expansion deal passed by Anaheim City Council.
- Disney tried to appeal the decision, however, the California Supreme Court refused to see the case, effectively ending Disney’s fight.
- The back pay period covers lost wages from January 1st, 2019 up until Disney adjusted wages last year after losing in court.
- Orange County Superior Court Judge William Claster will review the settlement on January 17th, and when approved, cast members will begin receiving notices about how much money they will receive.
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