The Walt Disney Company will pay out $43.3 million (£34.3 million) as it settles a gender pay lawsuit concerning around 9,000 women.
Both current and former employees brought the claim, alleging they were paid less than their male colleagues for almost a decade.
The settlement agreement came about after LaRonda Rasmussen filed a lawsuit in 2019, when she discovered that six men who had the same job title were getting paid a lot more than her. One male colleague, who had much less experience than Rasmussen, earned £20,000 more per year.
Despite objections from Disney, last December a judge granted class-action status to part of the case. This enabled those named in the action to represent thousands of other workers and bring their claims under California’s Equal Pay Act.
According to the settlement document, more than 14,000 women are eligible to claim part of the award. As part of the deal, the entertainment and media giant must employ a labour economist to review pay equity for three years, looking at full-time, non-union California-based staff below the vice president level. The three law firms representing the plaintiffs said the company would then be required to fix the differences.
While Disney agreed the payout, it contested the allegations and did not admit fault.
A spokesperson said: “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.”
In a statement, Lori Andrus, a partner at law firm Andrus Anderson which represented the women, said: “I strongly commend Ms. Rasmussen and the women who brought this discrimination suit against Disney, one of the largest entertainment organisations in the world. They risked their careers to raise pay disparity at Disney.”
