Walt Disney has agreed to pay $43.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that female employees in California were paid $150 million less than their male counterparts over an eight-year period. The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by LaRonda Rasmussen after discovering that six men with the same job title were earning significantly more than her, including one with less experience making $20,000 more per year.
The settlement includes Disney retaining a labor economist for three years to analyze pay equity among full-time, non-union California employees below the vice president level. The lawsuit, which eventually had 9,000 current and former female employees join, was allowed to proceed as a class action after Disney’s attempt to stop it was denied by a judge in December.
Lori Andrus, a partner at one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs, commended Rasmussen and the other women for taking a stand against pay disparity at Disney. The entertainment company stated they are committed to paying their employees fairly and are pleased to have resolved the matter.
An analysis of Disney’s human resource data by labor economist David Neumark found that female employees were paid around 2 percent less than males from April 2015 to December 2022. The settlement agreement, still pending approval by a judge, was filed in a California state court.
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