Disney to Pay $43 Million to Settle Gender Pay Gap Lawsuit

Brit Tuttle

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Disney to Pay $43 Million to Settle Gender Pay Gap Lawsuit

Disney has agreed to pay $43 million to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit, which alleges that the company paid its female employees less than their male counterparts.

Disney to Settle Gender Pay Gap Lawsuit

Disney has agreed to pay $43 million to settle a gender pay gap lawsuit filed in 2019.

The payout will address the up to 14,000 eligible class action lawsuit members of female employees, from 2015 to today. Papers set to be filed later tonight in Los Angeles Superior Court total the payment to $43.25 million.

This payment comes in far less than the originally estimated $300 million. A settlement agreement was quietly reached in October between Disney and the Andrus Anderson LLP-represented plaintiffs, per Deadline. The case was set to go to trial in May 2025. This payout does not include women who are employed at Hulu, ESPN, Pixar, and previous Fox assets, like National Geographic and FX.

We have always been committed to paying our employees fairly and have demonstrated that commitment throughout this case, and we are pleased to have resolved this matter.

Statement from a Disney spokesperson to Deadline

In addition to the monetary settlement, the company will also have to hire a labor economist to analyze pay equity amongst its full-time, non-union California employees below the vice president level for three years, as well as fix the differences.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2019 by LaRonda Rasmussen, and alleged that Disney knowingly violated the Fair Employment & Housing Act and California’s Equal Pay Act by paying female employees less than male employees. Earlier this summer, the plaintiffs in the case accused the company of withholding documents.

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.

Lori Andrus, partner at Andrus Anderson, in a statement

The settlement agreement for the case still requires approval by a judge, per WESH 2.

Source: Deadline, WESH 2

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