A wage theft lawsuit for $233 million filed by more than 51,000 Disneyland employees was approved Tuesday, Sept. 16 by an Orange County judge, ending a six-year dispute over pay for the Anaheim theme park’s employees.
On Tuesday, Judge William Claster of the Orange County Superior Court granted final approval in the class-action lawsuit against Disneyland for failure to pay its employees in accordance with the Anaheim “living wage” ordinance.
Related Articles
High-profile craft brewery closure will erase dozens of Bay Area jobs
Bay Area cities take on Albuquerque for new $1 billion nuclear fusion site
Workers commenting on Kirk’s death learn the limits of free speech in and out of their jobs
California Forever: Global electronics giant eyes big proposed Solano County industrial park
Super Micro Computer acquires San Jose building in real estate deal
“This is the end of the lawsuit,” said Richard McCracken, the lead attorney representing the employees. “We believe this is the largest wage class action settlement in California history.”
A final report on the actual amounts paid to class members must be submitted by June 30, 2026, by their lawyers, which includes McCracken, Stemerman & Holsberry in Oakland, and Hadsell, Stormer Renick & Dai in Pasadena.
McCracken said the average payment for current and former employees in the class action is estimated at $3,000 each. “Have you ever heard of a class action settlement like that?” he asked. “It’s usually a coupon to buy an ice cream,” he said.
A Disney spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Southern California News Group that it “cares deeply about our cast members” and was “pleased that this matter is nearing resolution.”
The lawsuit arose after Disney claimed it was exempt from Measure L, a 2018 voter-approved living wage initiative. The ordinance required any businesses in the city’s resort district that received city tax subsidies to pay workers at least $15 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2019, with hourly wages rising $1 annually through 2022.
Employees backed by several Disney-based unions filed suit in 2019. A judge in 2021 agreed with Disney, a decision the unions appealed. In July 2023, a three-judge panel for California’s Fourth Appellate District disagreed with the lower court.
Disney said it had already taken steps to pay its workers higher wages.
In October 2023, the company said it moved all cast members who “were not at or above the Measure L rate,” to $19.40 per hour, the prevailing rate under the living wage ordinance at the time.
In July 2024, Disney agreed with unions to raise the pay of more than 13,000 cast members who work in attractions, custodial and merchandise to a minimum hourly rate of $24. The wage is more than $4 above the Measure L requirement of $19.90 per hour and $8 more than California’s minimum wage of $16.50.
Complex litigation roots
The lawsuit — filed by several resort workers on behalf of 51,478 workers at Disney — had roots in discussions that took place between Disney and Anaheim city officials before Measure L was passed.
Anaheim City Attorney Robert Fabela announced about a month before voting day that Disney would not be subject to its rules because it had canceled tax incentive deals that would have sent millions of dollars in hotel guest taxes away from city coffers and back to Disney. Instead of building a luxury hotel complex, the development was dropped.
City leaders said at the time that Anaheim was short on luxury accommodations, and such deals with Disney would help persuade businesses to make the big investment required to build them.
The city was not named in the lawsuit, but the case challenged Fabela’s determination that a 1996 deal – in which Anaheim borrowed $546 million to build the Mickey & Friends parking garage and make street, landscaping and other improvements in the resort – wouldn’t be considered a subsidy as described by the ballot initiative.
According to Tuesday’s court filing, $179.6 million would go to plaintiffs in terms of back pay and retirement contributions. Another $17.5 million in penalties will be paid to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. And $35 million will go toward attorney fees, with the remainder going to administration of the settlement.