Two female employees sued Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday, alleging the company is violating the state’s equal pay act and paying women less than men doing similar work.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by San Francisco law firm Andrus Anderson.
The firm, which has filed similar cases against other businesses including Intel and Farmers Insurance, is seeking class action status for the lawsuit, covering people who worked for Walt Disney Studios in roughly the last four years.
“As Disney nears its 100th year in existence, it needs to catch up with the times,” attorney Lori Andrus said in a statement. “The gender pay gap addressed by this lawsuit is all too familiar, and women are fed up with being treated as cheap labor.”
Disney said the lawsuit was “baseless.” In a statement, the company said it maintains “robust pay equity practices and policies” and has a specialized team of compensation professionals and lawyers to address the matter. “We are confident that they [the claims] will be found to be meritless when tested against the evidence, rather than the rhetoric of the complaint."
