$300 Million Gender Gap Pay Equity Lawsuit Moves Forward, Disney on Defense

The Walt Disney Company has less than a month to provide some actual reasons why it refuses to hand over paperwork in a massive class-action lawsuit claiming that the Mouse has systemically underpaid female employees for years.

Rasmussen v. The Walt Disney Company asserts that the world’s most iconic media company practices “systemic gender discrimination against its female employees through unequal pay in violation of California’s Equal Pay Act, Labor Code section 1197.5.” Its lead lawyer, Lori Andrus, has said:

“As Disney nears its 100th year in existence, it needs to catch up with the times. The gender pay gap addressed by this lawsuit is all too familiar, and women are fed up with being treated as cheap labor. We hope that this lawsuit will shed some light on the pay discrimination that Disney is subjecting its hard-working female employees to. It is only fair to demand equal pay for equal work.”

It is a statement of fact that Disney faces lawsuits all the time, as is relatively normal for a massive international corporation with interests in everything from theme parks to Pixar movies to all the cross-promotional synergy one could ever imagine. Related: Disneyland Agrees to $10 Million Payout Following ‘Deceptive Business Practices’ Lawsuit

In the last year alone, it has been on both sides of multiple legal cases with Governor Ron DeSantis and his Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors, forced to pay damages over the CGI in the Beauty and the Beast (2017) live-action remake, and been threatened by South African businessman Elon Musk over employing legendary producer Kathleen Kennedy to oversee Lucasfilm. In short, Disney lawyers stay pretty busy. However, Rasmussen v. Disney is a historic case in multiple ways. It is the largest class-action lawsuit of its kind ever certified in California, representing up to 12,000 women who claim that they were paid less than their male counterparts. If it loses, the Mouse House may be forced to pay up to $300 million to claimants, a huge sum even for Disney. Six months ago, Disney took a major loss in its lawsuit battle when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle ruled that the case could be certified as class-action; the company called the decision “disappoint[ing.]” Now, Judge Berle has tentatively agreed that the company can withhold paperwork for 86 specific correspondence that are being demanded as evidence…as long as it can prove that it has a good reason for doing so (per Deadline).

Lori Andrus accused Disney, in a May lawsuit filing, of inappropriately withholding documents, saying:

“Disney has inappropriately withheld or redacted hundreds of documents on the basis of attorney-client privilege and work product protection. Disney’s formulaic and vague descriptions of why documents were withheld are not sufficient to justify withholding the documents, and the Court should issue an order requiring Disney to produce the documents and redacted information.”

Basically, Andrus claims Disney has no good reason to withhold potential evidence, while Disney has basically said, “We don’t have to give a reason.” Specifically, Disney attorneys have claimed, “At bottom, the (mostly new) challenges raised in Plaintiffs’ Motion are based on nothing more than ‘we do not believe you. ‘ This is not sufficient.” Related: Disney Sends Notice to Guests After Losing Class-Action Lawsuit Judge Berle has now de facto challenged Disney to come up with a reason why it should not provide these specific documents for discovery, essentially shifting the burden onto the Mouse to say why it won’t. In previous filings, Disney has clearly wanted to force Andrus to prove why her firm needed them, but now the opposite has been ordered, with a month’s deadline, no less. Now, instead of just saying, “trust us, it’s not relevant,” Disney has to say why.

Disney has been making headlines in recent months as financial filings across major productions like the live-action remake of Snow White and the Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte confirm that the company systemically pays female employees less than male ones. It sounds like the company has to come up with a lot of arguments why it shouldn’t have to come up with paperwork to prove it doesn’t. The original lawsuit filing for Rasmussen v. Disney can be read here: Do you think Disney underpays female employees? Give us legal opinions below!