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Credit: DisneyThe Walt Disney Company has been hit with yet another lawsuit from a former employee, and this one gets nasty.
It is a rare week when Disney does not face a new lawsuit, and the first week of April is no exception. While the Mouse may have settled its multiple, headline-garnering lawsuits with Governor Ron DeSantis and his Central Florida Tourist Oversight district, Disney still has a full legal docket. Among other things, the company has been accused of stealing independent artwork to promote its Disney+ Marvel series Werewolf by Night, concealing its financial ties to investment groups from its own shareholders, underpaying its Disney World and Disneyland Cast Members for years, and, horrifically, actively ignoring a sexual assault committed by powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein.
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One of the major legal stories surrounding Disney last year was a class action lawsuit from 9,000 female employees, who claim that the corporation systemically underpays women on nearly every level. The suit was initially brought nearly five years ago by Walt Disney Studios staffers LaRonda Rasmussen and Karen Moore but has since become a massive suit that may cost the company up to $300 million in restorative pay. It claims:
Disney violated the Fair Employment & Housing Act (“FEHA”) because its common practices caused a disparate impact on women. It also violated California’s Equal Pay Act (“EPA”), which does not require Plaintiffs to identify the cause of the disparities, because it pays women less for substantially similar jobs.
Only as a class can the women at Disney address wage gaps and receive effective injunctive and monetary remedies. Injunctive relief to address systematic disparities is unattainable through individual actions as the scope of relief would be limited to the scope of the violation shown, and an individual plaintiff would not obtain the breadth of discovery of a class. And many class members are unlikely to bring individual actions.
The suit includes female employees from various Disney units, such as Disneyland hotels and theme parks, the cruise line, Disney film and TV studios, ABC, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Now, a similar individual lawsuit is being brought to the Los Angeles Superior Court that not only alleges that Disney discriminates due to gender but also on racial lines.
Asta Jonasson, a former development executive at the Disney-owned ABC Network, who worked under American Crime creator John Ridley, is suing all three parties. Ms. Jonasson claims that she was fired from Ridley’s production house, International Famous Players Radio Picture Corp., which has an overall deal with Disney, after she complained that she was underpaid because of her gender and being Asian-American.
According to Jonasson’s filing, in September of 2014, she was “performing tasks that befit her title at IFPRPC: Director of Development” when “ABC issued a trade release…Ridley would expand his company, including hiring a dedicated development executive, i.e., the role Jonasson was already performing with the title of Director of Development. In response, Jonasson advocated to Ridley for equal pay. Specifically, Jonasson requested that Ridley compensate her for her work as the development executive. Ridley rejected the request.”
The suit goes on to claim that the job was offered to a “white man” at a higher salary than that of Asta Jonasson; he did not accept it, and, allegedly, John Ridley did not continue to try to fill the position while Jonasson was performing the job duties at a lower salary.
Then things start to get really ugly.
The Asta Jonasson lawsuit continues:
In February 2016, Jonasson complained to Ridley that his producing partner, Michael McDonald, had called her a “b***h” twice and demanded the behavior to end. The only response from Ridley was to dismissively ask if McDonald was joking. Ridley told Jonasson that he would not be taking any steps to address the sexist comments. Ridley never investigated the complaint or confronted McDonald. Ridley’s actions clearly expressed that complaints of harassment and discrimination would not be taken seriously.
After complaining to John Ridley several times that she was not being paid at the same scale as white male executives in similar positions, the lawsuit says that Asta Jonasson complained several times to the producer.
In or around 2016, Jonasson made a verbal complaint to Ridley that he was not providing her with equal opportunities like he was for men. Specifically, Jonasson complained to Ridley that he was not fulfilling his prior promises to provide her with producing opportunities, freelance scripts, or writing room advancement. For example, Ridley had recently hired a male assistant in Texas as a co-producer on American Crime, when Jonasson had already been performing producing duties on the prior season of American Crime.
Jonasson made another verbal complaint to Ridley….Jonasson is a woman of color and told Ridley that he should live the values he professed publicly, which advocate for equal pay for women and people of color…In reaction to Jonasson’s complaint of unlawful discrimination, Ridley expressed anger and dismissed her concerns.
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The lawsuit claims John Ridley hired “Shannon Rhoades, a Caucasian female, to a role that Jonasson had been performing for years, and paid Rhoades substantially more than Jonasson had received for her work.” Allegedly, Asta Jonasson was also expected to teach Rhoades how to do the job, since Rhoades had no prior work experience in movies or television.
The lawsuit says Jonasson eventually submitted a complaint regarding “disparate treatment and workplace harassment” in writing, and in less than 90 days, she was fired by Disney, ABC, and John Ridley. Her attorneys ask for “compensatory damages and other special and general damages according to proof, including, without limitation, lost earnings, salary, bonuses, and other job benefits Plaintiff.”
For as much as Disney is constantly accused of being a “woke” company, this kind of brutal discrimination lawsuit isn’t a good look for them.
What do you think of Disney’s alleged practice of underpaying female employees? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
The full Asta Jonasson v. Disney lawsuit can be read here: