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The
Friday filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeks to
persuade the judge to certify a four-year-old civil suit as a
class action, covering some 12,500 current or former fulltime
female Disney employees who held positions below the level of
vice president.
An analysis of Disney's human resource data from April 2015
through December 2022 has found female Disney employees were
paid roughly 2% less than male counterparts, the filing said. It
was conducted by David Neumark, a University of California
Irvine professor and labor economist.
Disney disputes the findings.
"The plaintiffs' assertions about an alleged pay gap between
women and men are simply false, which we will demonstrate
through the litigation," said Shawna M. Swanson, associate
general counsel and head of the employment law function for
Disney.
The original suit was filed by LaRonda Rasmussen in 2019, after
she learned that six men with the same job title earned
substantially more, including one recent hire with several years
less experience, who earned $20,000 more, according to the
complaint. Nine current or past Disney employees have joined the
suit.
"Several of the named plaintiffs, they do love the Disney brand,
they just want to be paid fairly," said Lori Andrus, the
plaintiffs' lead attorney.
Lower pay for women in California would breach the state's Equal
Pay Act and the Fair Employment & Housing Act.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Edwina
Gibbs)
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