In May, Workers United Local 50 broke the news of an “exploitative” proposed attendance policy for Disneyland Resort Cast Members.
RIP Disneyland cast, hope you don’t get sick more than 3 days a year
RIP Disneyland cast, hope you don’t get sick more than 3 days a year pic.twitter.com/9HYT7GGG7X
— Bunny Dragon (@DisneyDragon) July 20, 2022
The attendance policy officially took effect Sunday, October 2. Disney Parks Cast Members and fans took to Reddit to discuss the change. u/MinveraMeowMeow summarized Cast Members’ main concerns, pointing out that Downtown Disney, Disneyland Park, and Disney California Adventure are already understaffed:
This is a MAJOR change from their policy before. We will be seeing a lot of cast members being fired and leaving. They will be coming to work sick in order to protect their job. Covid, which is already breaking out backstage, is going to be a major concern for these guys.
I feel super bad for them. It’s gonna be bad for us as well. Disney is understaffed already and pushing this as we head into peak Halloween and Christmas is insane. Thanks Bob.
“Terrible policy,” u/SirMarglar agreed. “Big employers are trying to will away a pandemic that is still making a lot of people too sick to work for days, weeks, or months.”
Related: Disney Cast Member Wrangles Snake as Magic Kingdom Guests Look On
“This sucks and factors in part of our decision not to renew magic key,” u/UIUC_grad_dude1 said.
Does it suck? Absolutely. But did we do this to ourselves? Yes. We had such a lenient Policy to begin with, no other comparable company had anything close to what we had. We have no one to blame but our selves.
Will it lose CMs? Possibly. But you know what else sucks? Having to pull a double because the same people call out.
Though some Disney Cast Members and Guests expressed concern about COVID-19 spread, workers in California are legally entitled to up to 80 hours of paid leave while sick with COVID-19. Of course, that doesn’t account for symptomatic Cast Members who haven’t yet tested positive.