November 25, 2024
LOS ANGELES – Today, class representatives of current and former female employees of certain Disney-related companies in California filed a motion for preliminary approval of a $43.25 million settlement in a gender pay discrimination class action.
Filed in 2019, the women claimed that Disney deprived the class of millions in wages. Disney’s actions, the women claimed, were in violation of California’s Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA), because its compensation practices caused a disparate impact on women, and California’s Equal Pay Act (EPA), because it paid women less than men for substantially similar jobs. The EPA class was certified in 2023.
Plaintiffs claimed, among other things, that before 2018 Disney employed an enterprise-wide compensation policy, whereby it started out new female hires at lower salaries than their male counterparts for similar jobs in part because Disney would base starting pay on prior salary, which historically includes gender-based disparities. Plaintiffs relied on the public report of a labor economist, filed with the court in 2023 at the time of class certification, to support their claims, while Disney disputed that analysis.
“I strongly commend Ms. Rasmussen and the women who brought this discrimination suit against Disney, one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. They risked their careers to raise pay disparity at Disney,” said Lori Andrus, founding partner of Andrus Anderson. “I’m also encouraged that Disney has committed to run annual pay equity reviews to further promote pay equity. I believe this will help strengthen the company and its brand as a key employer and contributor to California’s economy.”
As a part of the settlement, Disney has agreed to retain an outside industrial consultant to provide training on best practices for benchmarking jobs to external market data and organizing jobs within its job architecture. Furthermore, Disney has agreed to retain a labor economist for the next three years to perform a pay equity analysis of all full-time, non-union, California employees below the level of vice president using the model developed by Plaintiff’s expert, and to take appropriate steps to address any statistically significant pay differences found.
“This settlement would not be possible without these courageous women. Because of them, women can expect equitable treatment at Disney in the future,” said Christine Webber, co-chair of Cohen Milstein’s Civil Rights & Employment practice. “I am hopeful the court will move swiftly to approve the settlement, so these hard-working women can move forward with confidence that best practices will be used, and unencumbered by further litigation.”
Disney, which is based in Burbank, CA, operates amusement parks, resorts, media studios, broadcast networks, publishing, and other consumer companies worldwide.
Plaintiffs include women who have been employed in California between April 1, 2015 – December 28, 2024 below the level of vice president, and in a salaried, non-union position with specified job levels.
The class action, Rasmussen, et al. v. The Walt Disney Company, et al., Case. No. 19STCV10974, Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles, was brought under California FEHA and EPA, as well as, and California Business & Professions Code §17200, the California Private Attorneys General Act, and various California Labor Codes.
###
About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs’ law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people—workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers—working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good. We have litigated landmark civil rights and employment disputes before the highest courts in the nation and continue to actively shape civil rights and employment law in the United States.
About Andrus Anderson
Andrus Anderson is dedicated to making the concepts of truth, justice and accountability a reality for each and every client. A national leader in litigation for equal pay, Andrus Anderson is a law firm that will stand up to corporate giants and fight tirelessly to see individual rights prevail over corporate and governmental misconduct, greed and abuse.
About Goldstein Borgen Dardarian & Ho
Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho (GBDH) is one of the oldest and most successful plaintiffs’ firms litigating public interest class actions in California and nationally. GBDH represents plaintiffs against large companies and other entities in complex lawsuits with a focus on cases involving wage theft, employment discrimination, disability access, consumer protection, environmental justice, voting rights, housing rights, and other public interest litigation.