November 25, 2024
Women Reach $43.25M Settlement in Disney Gender Pay Discrimination Class Action
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.
If you have questions about the Settlement, including whether you are part of the proposed Settlement, please contact us here.
December 8, 2023
On December 8, 2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle agreed to certify a class of around 9,000 female employees under California’s Equal Pay Act. GBDH and co-counsel Andrus Anderson LLP and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC represent women employed by The Walt Disney Company or an affiliated entity between April 1, 2015 and three months before trial in non-union positions below the level of vice president.
Plaintiffs allege that The Walt Disney Company paid women less than men for substantially similar jobs in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act. Judge Berle, ruling from the bench, found, “Plaintiffs have set forth evidence which establishes that Defendants’ alleged conduct was uniformly applicable to class members and those common issue would predominate over the individual inquiries with respect to the EPA claims and related subclass.”
In an earlier ruling denying Disney’s motion to exclude Plaintiffs’ expert in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Judge Berle responded to Defendants’ arguments that Disney’s company-wide job classification system cannot be used to compare jobs under the Equal Pay Act, stating “Defendants are essentially arguing that although an extensive and comprehensive global implementation of job leveling was undertaken and is continually revised and updated, nevertheless, it failed to accomplish what it sets out to do.”
If you have questions about whether you are a member of the Equal Pay Act class or have information related to the case, please contact us here.
November 15, 2022https://gbdhlegal.com/contact/
GBDH joins class action alleging The Walt Disney Company and affiliated entities discriminated against women employees by paying them less than their male counterparts. The complaint was filed on April 2, 2019. The class is seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.