Disney has settled a class action accusing it of rampant pay discrimination.
Both sides have informed the court of an agreement to resolve the case. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“The Parties have reached a tentative agreement” and are “currently working on finalizing the terms in the form of a written settlement agreement,” lawyers for the plaintiffs and Disney wrote in a joint statement to the court filed in September. They’re expected to file a motion for approval of the settlement by Friday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle is tentatively scheduled to consider approval of the settlement, first reported by Puck, on Jan. 10.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, revolves around roughly 9,000 workers suing Disney for discrimination against female workers, who say they’re being paid less than their male counterparts for substantially similar work. It was brought by LaRonda Rasmussen, a longtime product development manager at Walt Disney Studios and Karen Moore, who has spent over two decades as a senior copyright administrator for Disney’s Hollywood Records. At the time, Disney denied allegations of pay bias across numerous corporate divisions in the class action seeking up to $300 million.
The long-running case cleared a major hurdle last year when a judge certified a diverse class of employees, who work across the company’s movie production arm, record labels, theme parks and home distribution subsidiaries, among various other units including broadcast and research and development. It’s believed to be one of the largest classes ever suing under an equal pay act claim. The group comprises women employed by Disney between April 2015 and three months before trial, which was scheduled to start in May, below the level of vice president.
Discovery has unearthed documents challenging arguments from Disney that it equitably pays women and men. Nancy Dolan, manager of creative music marketing, was denied a promotion to director over the objections of her supervisor, president of music Mitchell Leib, who said in an email that she was “worth her weight in gold,” according to a collection of nearly 200 court records unsealed in the case. He urged higher-ups to reconsider the decision. In an email, vice president of compensation NaShawn Bacon in 2020 acknowledged a “pay equity nightmare.”
Both sides didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.