Credit: Inside the MagicBob Iger is 73 years old and gets to keep his position as Disney CEO for as long as he wants, apparently. But a new lawsuit is accusing his company of age discrimination after a longtime employee was allegedly forcibly “retired” at age 73 herself.
Disney business analyst Deborah Violante has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, where she had previously worked for approximately 18 years (per Deadline). According to the extension allegations in the court filing, “As Violante got older, she became subjected to a campaign of discrimination and harassment based on her age.” The suit goes on to claim numerous microaggressions and hostility from Disney management and coworkers and, ultimately:
“Then, after Violante became injured and needed to take time off, Disney expedited its plans to terminate her and used the pretext of a mass layoff to terminate Violante from the company based on her age and disability. When Violante was 73 years old, Disney boldly – and illegally – unilaterally ‘retired’ Violante from the company even though she had never asked to retire and never authorized anyone to retire her.”
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The suit claims that one coworker, Robert Jeff Downs, who would be tasked with Violante’s duties during a medical leave, eventually asked her (in paraphrased language), “When are you going to retire?” It continues, stating, “Disney’s mistreatment of, and animus towards, Violante was so brazen as to be observed by other Cast Members, causing one of them to confide in Violante that it appears Disney wants her to quit or retire.”
Eventually, it seems that Deborah Violante was let go as part of ongoing Disney layoffs (a common feature of Bob Iger’s current tenure as CEO), even though she was the senior financial analyst in her department. The former Disney employee says the company “failed to offer to Violante the alleged non-discriminatory reason for her layoff.”
The lawsuit says:
“On October 19, 2023, because Disney had not offered any solutions to provide a workplace free of discrimination and harassment, and, especially since Disney seemingly did no investigate and covered up its findings regarding Violante’s allegations of discrimination, Violante declined Disney’s offer to accept a new position.
“Then, on October 31, 2023, Violante requested again that Disney provide an explanation for her termination or otherwise address her concerns of discrimination and retaliation. Disney failed to provide any explanation.
“To this day, it remains unclear what metrics Disney used to evaluate her performance, especially given that, prior to this, no one had notified Violante of any performance deficiencies.”
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The former Disney employee is asking for unspecified general, compensatory, special, and punitive damages, as well as reasonable attorneys’ fees, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, and declaratory relief.
Once again, for the record, Bob Iger is the exact same age as this employee who has been unilaterally “retired” and has two years left on his current contract to lead the company. There has been no announcement of a successor, and if past history serves, it might just be Iger again.
Do you think Disney discriminates against the elderly?