Disney to Pay $43 Million in Gender Pay Discrimination Settlement

The settlement resolves allegations from 9,000 women claiming systemic pay disparities at Disney over nearly a decade.

The lawsuit, filed in 2019, alleged Disney underpaid female employees compared to male counterparts in similar roles, with some women earning up to $30,000 less annually.
Approximately 9,000 current and former female employees joined the class action, which focused on salaried, non-union roles in California below the vice president level.
As part of the settlement, Disney will hire a labor economist to conduct pay equity analyses and an organizational psychologist to train compensation personnel over the next three years.
The case highlighted Disney's past practice of basing new hire salaries on previous pay, a policy that plaintiffs argued perpetuated gender pay gaps until it was banned in California in 2018.
Disney has not admitted wrongdoing but stated its commitment to fair pay practices and resolved the case ahead of a trial scheduled for May 2025.