Cohen Milstein and Andrus Anderson LLP are representing current and former female employees of The Walt Disney Company and all Disney subsidiaries in gender pay equity litigation before the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles. Plaintiffs allege that Disney pays women workers in California tens of thousands of dollars less than their male counterparts. Plaintiffs allege that women make on average about 89 cents for every dollar their male counterparts make, costing the state’s economy approximately $78 billion dollars a year (as of 2019).
This lawsuit was originally filed by Andrus Anderson as a putative class action in California state court in 2019. Cohen Milstein joined the lawsuit in August 2022.
Case Background
The Walt Disney Company is the world’s largest media company, which includes amusement parks and resorts, media networks, studio entertainment, and consumer products and interactive media.
Plaintiffs, who include long-time employees, have come to understand that, across all of its business segments and at all levels of the company, Disney routinely underpays its female employees, passes them over for promotion, piles on extra work without additional compensation, and does not supply sufficient support staff to allow women to succeed at their jobs. Simply put, Plaintiffs allege that Disney values its male employees more than its female employees.
Plaintiffs seek legal and equitable relief under the California Equal Pay Act, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and California Business & Professions Code §17200, the California Private Attorneys General Act, and various California Labor Codes.
Case name: Rasmussen, et al. v. The Walt Disney Company, et al., Case. No. 19STCV10974, Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles