Disney workers are suing their employer for damages after being told to move across the US for a project that was later cancelled.
Media giant Disney told 2,000 people in California to relocate or resign after it announced in 2021 it was to open a $1bn campus for theme park staff in Florida. Less than two years later Disney decided not to go ahead with the campus after Bob Iger returned to lead the company and began a cost-cutting drive.
The workers’ proposed class action lawsuit accuses Disney of misrepresenting its plans. The complaint says staff had relied on Disney’s claims when they uprooted their lives, incurring major moving expenses as they sold family homes and bought new ones.
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“These folks are really frustrated by their circumstances,” said lawyer Jason Lohr, who is representing the workers.
The suit was brought by two current employees Maria de la Cruz, a vice president of product design, and George Fong, creative director of product design.
The company changed its mind on the Lake Nona campus in 2023 also because of a public battle between Disney and Florida governor Ron DeSantis over the company’s relationship with the state.
The dispute began when Disney officials expressed disapproval for the proposed Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which had been labelled by reporters, protesters, and counterprotesters as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
This resulted in a protracted legal battle which was settled after DeSantis replaced two Disney critics on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District with two Disney supporters and two weeks after DeSantis’s Parental Rights in Education Act was largely overturned by a court.
The request to staff to relocate came at a time of fast-rising home prices and mortgage rates in the US, a factor that some surveys have found have made Americans reluctant to relocate for jobs.
Some at Disney had opted to resign rather than relocate; others opted to wait, especially after the firm informed them the project would be delayed, according to the lawsuit.
However, about 250 people had agreed to the transfer on the timeline the company had originally set out, according to the complaint.
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