9,000 Women Sue Disney Alleging an Illegal Gender Pay Gap

Confirmed by a judge as of Friday, December 8, a certified class action lawsuit that claims and alleges that the Walt Disney Company underpaid 9,000 women in comparison to their male counterparts is officially in effect, detailing the illegal gender pay gap.

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The Walt Disney Company and the New Class Action Lawsuit – Disney Gender Pay Gap

According to an exclusive report from Variety, A judge has certified a class-action lawsuit against Disney, claiming that the company paid 9,000 women less than their male counterparts, California’s largest authorized under California’s Equal Pay Act.

The lawsuit alleges gender-based pay disparities between women and men doing similar work. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Lori Andrus, hailed the ruling, accusing “Disney of mistreating and “gaslighting” women for four years. Disney expressed disappointment and is considering options. Currently, the lawsuit is specific to Los Angeles, where Disneyland California is closest to. Female Disney employees have gathered in solidarity with this class action lawsuit.

The class includes non-union female Disney employees in California below the vice president level since April 1, 2015, covering various units but excludes Disney’s divisions. The judge rejected Disney’s argument that the case was unmanageable due to diverse job titles and locations. A trial is expected before October 2024.

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The class in the Disney gender pay lawsuit comprises female employees in California below the level of vice president who has worked for the company since April 1, 2015, in non-union positions and has been assigned to a specific job family and group. This class includes employees from various Disney units, such as Disneyland hotels and theme parks, the cruise line, Disney film and TV studios, ABC, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. It excludes Disney Plus, Hulu, Fox, or FX employees.

Disney’s attorney, Felicia Davis, argues that the diverse job titles within this class, ranging from music producers to pastry chefs, nurses, architects, ride engineers, visual effects directors, security dog handlers, and Star Wars social media managers, make the group too varied to be considered substantially similar, questioning the merit of certifying the class for the lawsuit.

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A status conference is expected to take place on February 9, 2024. Courthouse News Source also published an article on this news yesterday morning. The Verge also released a report on this matter detailing everything covered above.

As of the time of publishing, Inside The Magic reached out to Disney for comment on this class action lawsuit. Still, unfortunately, we did not receive a response before our publication deadline. We believe in providing comprehensive and balanced coverage and make every effort to seek input from all relevant parties. Without a response from Disney, we have presented the information available at publication. We remain open to updating our content with any comments or statements from Disney if received after the publication.

This post is originally appeared on Inside the Magic.