OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:54 AM – Monday, March 11, 2024
Over 100 Disney California workers are suing the company for allegedly being paid less than fast-food workers.
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More than a hundred Disney hotel maintenance employees, who are in charge of maintaining the company’s opulent hotels in southern California, are suing the entertainment company on the grounds that they are being paid less than the wages of fast-food employees in the state and are being forced to take on second jobs even though they put in a lot of overtime.
“A ton of us have or have had second jobs just to survive,” lead plaintiff Charlie Torres told FOX Business. “I was working 48-plus hours a week in the mornings at Disney and delivering pizzas five nights a week for Pizza Hut.”
According to Ron Zambrano, Torres’ attorney, the employees responsible for maintaining the four-star hotels to the high standards of their affluent patrons are finding it difficult to make ends meet amidst a regional housing crisis and skyrocketing inflation.
“Franchise owners of larger chains have to pay at least $20 an hour to anyone working there,” said Zambrano, a partner at West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles. “So, they’re making less than the people working at McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s.”
Disney is accused of forcing the employees to bring their own tools, which is a major point of contention in the lawsuit. According to California law, this means that the employees should be paid twice the minimum wage of $15.50 per hour.
“Why does Disney just not have a warehouse of tools for people to use?” Zambrano asked.
He stated that some earned as little as $17.50 per hour. Additionally, it has been reported that Disney underpaid overtime, prevented employees from taking their legally required lunch breaks during the workday, and refused to reimburse them for meals missed.
Disney, on the other hand, is charging, depending on the location, hundreds of dollars per night. An internet search revealed that some rooms started at more than $500. Some are more than $800 in price.
According to Zambrano, upon hiring, the staff members were required to fork over hundreds of dollars for a set of necessary hand tools and replace them on their own dime several times a year.
“That’s a lot of money—half your groceries for the month,” Zambrano said. “It’s an incredible thing to have asked these guys, considering the amount of revenue that these hotels bring.”
The class-action lawsuit, which was submitted on Friday, also claims that Disney neglected to give terminated or resigned employees their last paychecks on schedule. Disney was contacted by Fox Business for a statement.
Disney, which has also come under fire for how it treats its theme park employees—some of whom have allegedly resorted to living in their cars in order to make ends meet—is being sued for unpaid wages, interest, and legal fees.
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