MOUSE PAYS UP

Disney Quietly Reaches $233 Million Settlement in Suit for Stiffing Employees

The lawsuit was initially raised in 2019 and alleged that the company did not adjust wages for its Anaheim theme park workers in accordance to a city ballot.

The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to settle a class-action wage theft lawsuit for $233 million. Initially raised in 2019, the lawsuit alleged that Disney did not adjust the wages for its Anaheim theme park workers after the passage of Measure L, an Anaheim ballot proposition that required any company receiving tax rebates from the city to pay their workers at least $15 per hour. The multimillion-dollar settlement will provide back pay with interest to workers at Disney’s Anaheim theme park, with the city also set to raise its minimum wage to $20.50 per hour in 2025. Disney approved the preliminary settlement on Friday, and a Superior Court Judge is set to review it on Jan. 17. Once approved, workers will be notified on how much money they’ll be receiving. “It’s a big win and we’re happy,” Melissa Partida, a room service employee at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim, told The Los Angeles Times. “The cost of living here is very expensive. I don’t know how much back pay I’m going to get, but whatever it is, I didn’t have it before.”