A tentative settlement has been reached in a discrimination lawsuit filed against The Walt Disney Company in 2023.
Disney Discrimination Lawsuit
Khatchatur Berberian sued Disney in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2023, alleging he was fired by the company because of his age and Armenian heritage.
Berberian passed away from cardiac arrest at age 53 in December 2024, but the lawsuit continued with Anterine Jackson, the executor of his will, as his successor in interest and plaintiff. On Monday, Jackson’s attorneys filed notice with Judge Kerry Besinger of a “conditional” resolution of the case. A request for dismissal is expected by September 30. Terms of the settlement were not revealed.
Disney hired Berberian in 1998 and furloughed him due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He was terminated in September 2021 without ever returning to work. The suit states that younger co-workers who had the same job as Berberian were not terminated.
According to Berberian’s lawsuit, he enjoyed his work as a mail center carrier until 2014, when a new supervisor got in a physical altercation with him around the same time he learned he had heart disease. Berberian tried to have the issue addressed with upper management, but to no avail.
The supervisor continued to harass Berberian, including following him and intimidating him during mail runs in January and March 2020. Berberian felt he was targeted due to his complaints against the supervisor, who allegedly falsely accused Berberian of threatening him.
Another supervisor allegedly made fun of Berberian’s Armenian heritage and called Armenians living in Glendale “hairy.”
Disney denied the allegations.
Source: The Orange County Register
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