Two Disney employees have sued the corporate after it requested them to relocate from California and be based mostly at a brand new Florida campus — which it later canceled.
Final Could, Disney scrapped plans to construct the almost $1 billion campus in Lake Nona, Orlando. The corporate was on a cost-cutting spree after Bob Iger returned as CEO. Concurrently, Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had locked horns over a Florida legislation that restricted what public colleges may educate about gender id and sexual orientation.
About 2,000 jobs, primarily within the firm’s parks, experiences, and merchandise division, have been set to maneuver from considered one of its workplaces in Glendale, Southern California, to the brand new campus, which had been within the works since 2019.
Not less than 200 workers had already relocated to Florida earlier than the venture was canceled, Disney chairman Josh D’Amaro informed workers in an inner e mail final Could.
Two of those employees have now sued Disney for damages.
Maria De La Cruz, a vice chairman of product design, and George Fong, a artistic director of product design, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit towards the leisure and theme park big on Tuesday within the Los Angeles Superior Court docket.
Disney informed them in August 2021 that their roles would transfer to the Lake Nona campus and “made it clear” that they’d lose their jobs in the event that they refused to relocate, the lawsuit stated. It added that the employees got three months to make their resolution.
De La Cruz and Fong informed Disney in November 2021 that they’d relocate to the brand new campus, and each offered their properties in California and purchased new properties in Orlando, the lawsuit alleged. It stated that in Fong’s case, he needed to promote the household residence he’d grown up in.
In June 2022, Disney informed employees that the deadline to relocate to Florida had been pushed again to 2026 as a result of the venture’s completion had been delayed, the lawsuit stated. After relocating to Florida, De La Cruz and Fong labored from Disney’s Kissimmee campus, the lawsuit added.
However then, in Could 2023, Disney informed workers that the Lake Nona venture was canceled. The lawsuit stated that they had till the tip of 2023 to resolve whether or not to stay in Florida, and that in the event that they wished to return to Disney’s California workplaces, they must relocate by the tip of 2024.
The lawsuit stated De La Cruz and Fong determined to return to California as a result of they thought it was essential for his or her job safety, although De La Cruz has but to relocate.
By this level, although, the real-estate markets had modified. Home costs close to Lake Nona slumped after Disney canceled the venture.
In the meantime, will increase in mortgage charges and home costs in Los Angeles made it “not possible” for Disney employees to purchase properties within the Los Angeles space that have been similar to the properties they’d offered there only a 12 months or two beforehand, the lawsuit stated.
Fong has moved to a “considerably” smaller home, the lawsuit added.
The lawsuit accuses Disney of “solicitation of worker by misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation, concealment, and negligent misrepresentation.” It claims that Disney made unfaithful statements concerning the Lake Nona campus to employees to induce employees to relocate.
Disney didn’t reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
Correction: June 24, 2024 — An earlier model of this story misstated Ron DeSantis’s title. He’s the governor of Florida, not a senator.
