Disney World
TOKYO, JAPAN: Mickey Mouse (C) and other Walt Disney characters perform during the opening ceremony in Tokyo, 18 November 2003, to launch a 24-hour exclusive "Disney Channel" in Japan. TORU YAMANAKA/AFP via Getty Images

Disney has agreed to pay $43.25 million in compensation to settle a class action lawsuit over gender pay disparities.

The lawsuit, filed in 2019, accused Disney of violating the California Equal Pay Act by paying women less than their male employees with similar experience, reported Variety.

The lawsuit said policies like basing new hires' salaries on previous pay allowed the wage gap discrepancy to become a part of the norm at the company.

LaRonda Rasmussen, one of the nine women named in the lawsuit, discovered that in 2017 six male co-workers who also worked as financial analysts for Disney earned more money than her. After she complained, she was given a $25,000 raise, but was still being underpaid compared to her male counterparts said Variety.

A study commissioned by the plaintiffs, found women in certain roles were paid up to two percent less than their male co-workers.

The settlement, which was given class status by Judge Elihu Berle in December 2023, covers the salaries of 9,000 non-union, salaried women employed at Disney in California since 2015.

The lawsuit does not include female employees at ESPN, Pixar, Hulu, Fox and FX.

Disney defended its pay practices and disputed any issue but said it settled to avoid court.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed the Equal Pay Act targeting gender wage gap in 2015.

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