Credit: DisneyAfter a Disney Springs employee was allegedly fired for handing out pro-union leaflets and speaking out against sexual harassment by her boss, UNITE HERE Local 737, the union that represents thousands of Disney World hotel and food service workers, announced that it had filed an official complaint with the National Labor Relations Board claiming the Disney Springs restaurant illegally fired the woman.
Julie Ruiz was passing out flyers to her fellow workers at Disney Springs. Her effort was part of UNITE HERE Local 737’s push to get non-union restaurant and store workers at Disney Springs to join their union.
Besides passing out flyers, Ruiz was a vocal proponent of unionization. She said the goal was to achieve higher wages and healthcare benefits than other employees at the Walt Disney World Resort currently have.
Ruiz said that she made $16 an hour working at Pizza Ponte and was basically homeless. She was saving for an apartment while living on a friend’s couch.
After Ruiz was seen handing out flyers, she was disciplined at work for wearing an earbud while walking into her job. Shortly after that incident, Ruize was suspended from her job, and ultimately, she was fired.
Ruiz claimed that while working at Pizza Ponte, she was sexually harassed by her supervisor, and despite her complaints to management, nothing was done. However, she was fired for wearing an earbud while walking into work. Ruiz said:
My supervisor wasn’t fired for sexual harassment, but one week after I passed out these [pro-union] flyers, I was fired for wearing an earbud. I’m not going to accept this treatment. I’m going to fight for myself and the women who work at Disney Springs.
If Ruiz’s story is accurate, there are two potential violations here. Firing an employee for joining or supporting a union is a violation of the National Labor Relations Act, and firing an employee for retaliation for reporting sexual harassment is a violation of the Civil Rights Act.
This was not the first complaint against that same supervisor for sexual harassment. Joli Lindsay, Ruiz’s co-worker, also reported him to management, but nothing was done. Lindsay said:
There was a whole investigation. They interviewed or investigated me and all the other girls, and he got sent home and returned to work the next day. So I felt as if my, our voice wasn’t heard. I’m also one of the people who had a manager trying to persuade me out of joining the union.
NLRB complaints can take years to resolve while the board investigates the claims. The Patina Restaurant Group owns Pizza Ponte and four other restaurants at Disney Springs, including The Edison and Maria and Enzo’s. The Patina Group did not respond to Orlando Weekly’s request for comment.