The Walt Disney Company is facing a potential class-action lawsuit over gender discrimination in regards to pay levels at Walt Disney Studios, according to Deadline.
- More than four years ago, LaRonda Rasmussen and Karen Moore filed a complaint against Walt Disney Studios, accusing them of discriminating against female workers by paying them less than men.
- Attorneys representing the women have asked a California judge to allow them to turn the matter into a class-action lawsuit.
- A filing from the plaintiffs’ attorneys – Lori Andrus, Joseph M. Sellers and Christine E. Webber of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll – reads as follows:
- Disney systematically pays women in California less than men. This pay disparity is not based on legitimate factors, it is based on sex, with a less than one in one billion chance it occurred in the absence of discrimination. The class as a whole was thus deprived of over $150 million in wages. Disney violated the Fair Employment & Housing Act (“FEHA”) because its common practices caused a disparate impact on women. It also violated California’s Equal Pay Act (“EPA”), which does not require Plaintiffs to identify the cause of the disparities, because it pays women less for substantially similar jobs. Accordingly, Plaintiffs seek certification of a class of non-union, female employees in California, below the level of Vice President, challenging sex discrimination in compensation at Disney on or after April 1, 2015.
- The redacted filing can be read in its entirety here.
- Disney has reportedly attempted to dismiss the claims of the plaintiffs on a number of occasions since they were made in 2019, but have so far been unsuccessful.
- If the plaintiffs succeed in getting the matter certified as a class action by L.A. Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle at a proposed November 15 hearing, and if the plaintiffs are then successful at trial, the $150 million in wages could be doubled under California’s Equal Pay Act, in addition to any further damages and sanctions named by the judge.
What they’re saying:
- Lori Andrus: “We are pleased to be taking the next step in this important litigation. “As our experts explain, women who work for Disney face a persistent gender wage gap. Over the last eight years, that has added up to more than $150 million in stolen wages.”