A judge as certified a class action lawsuit, allowing 9,000 female Cast Members to sue The Walt Disney Company for paying them less than their male counterparts, according to Variety.
- The lawsuit, about which we first learned back in July, is the largest ever certified under California’s Equal Pay Act, which makes it illegal for workers to be paid less for substantially similar work based on their gender.
- Lori Andrus, the attorney of the 9,000 plaintiffs, express excitement for the judge’s ruling:
- “Disney has been gaslighting these women for four years. They love their jobs. They love the brand. But they want to be respected and treated the way they should be in the workplace.”
- Felicia Davis, Disney’s attorney, argued that the plaintiffs are “seeking to compare salaries across thousands of job groups, which reflect the decentralized decisions of thousands of managers.”
- The plaintiffs include Cast Members from the Disneyland hotels and theme park, the cruise line, the Disney film and TV studios, ABC, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and other units.
- Davis argues that job levels that might be in the same class but in a different industry to not classify as “substantially similar.”
- “These are different segments, different business areas, in different locations.They report to different managers. They are in completely different industries which pay completely differently.”
- Andrus says the starting pay across the class is 2% lower for women than for men.
- Andrus was reportedly also pursuing a claim under the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, which would encompass a broader group of 12,000 women, but that claim was denied certification by the judge.
- The trial is expected to be held sometime before October.