DISNEY SETTLES PAY EQUITY LAWSUIT BY PAYING OVER US$43 MLN

LOS ANGELES, Nov 27 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Disney on Monday agreed to pay US$43.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the world-leading entertainment company paid female employees less than their male counterparts in similar roles, reported Xinhua.

The settlement offer was scheduled to be approved by a judge next January.

The pay equity class action, looming over the company for the past five years, stemmed from a 2019 lawsuit filed by LaRonda Rasmussen, who claimed Disney's cash based on gender as opposed to performance.

Rasmussen said she learned that six men with the same job title earned substantially more than her, including one man with several years less experience, who was earning US$20,000 a year more than she did.

About 9,000 women, who were both former and current employees, joined the lawsuit in the past five years as the company repeatedly disputed the allegations and refused to admit fault.

At its core, the suit claimed Disney had violated the Fair Employment & Housing Act and California's Equal Pay Act in paying men more than women for the same work.

According to papers filed later Monday night in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the company finally agreed to settle the case by writing a check. It would involve up to 14,000 eligible class members of female Disney employees from 2015 till now.

However, the class action and payout do not include women employed at Hulu, ESPN, Pixar and previously Fox assets like FX or National Geographic.

"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," a Disney spokesperson told Deadline, a leading entertainment news website based in Los Angeles.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA