Disney settles landmark gender pay discrimination lawsuit

Working for Disney, LaRonda Rasmussen and Karen Moore became the faces of the class-action lawsuit filed against the studio in the U.S. in April 2019. The corporation was accused of discrimination. The plaintiffs alleged that the company knowingly violated the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Equal Pay Act by paying female employees less than their male counterparts.

The legal proceedings, involving 9,000 women employed by the company as the opposing party to Disney, were scheduled for May 2025. However, on November 12, 2024, the parties announced a settlement. The amount Disney agreed to pay the affected employees was not disclosed. According to the Deadline portal, if Disney had lost in court, the compensation could have totalled up to CAD 420 million.

In 2019, the defendant employer stated: "The Disney Companies categorically deny that they pay any female employee less than her similarly situated male coworkers and will vigorously defend themselves against each Plaintiff’s individual claims." Disney's lawyers tried to argue that the issue was related to individual claims, not systemic discrimination.

The California court disagreed with this view, ruling in December 2023 that the lawsuit would be handled as a class-action suit. This conclusion meant that all Disney employees had grounds to accuse the employer of discrimination. In response to court documents informing about the class-action lawsuit, 9,000 of the 12,000 women working for Disney declared their participation in the lawsuit. They could demand equal pay for lost wages since 2015 and additional compensation for illegal discrimination. This turn of events prompted the corporation to settle, the details of which remain confidential.