Disney Sued By Former Employee Who Alleges She Was Fired For Her Age

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — A 73-year-old woman is suing the Walt Disney Co., alleging she was terminated in 2023 because of her age and a medical disability despite management's refusal to explain why she was the only member of her department laid off.

Deborah Violante's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations also include retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

A Disney representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.

Violante was 55 years old when she was hired and remained an employee for 18 years, holding the job of business analyst when her employment was terminated.

"As Violante got older, she became subjected to a campaign of discrimination and harassment based on her age," the suit alleges. "Then, after Violante became injured and needed to take time off, Disney expedited its plans to terminate her and used the pretext of a mass layoff to terminate Violante from the company based on her age and disability harassment based on her age."

Violante performed her job at Disney well, according to her complaint.

"Certainly, she had no reason to believe that her employment would come to an end other than by way of a voluntary retirement, a retirement when she was ready to announce it," the suit states.

Violante was furloughed in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and was one of the last members of her department returned to work when the furlough ended, leading her to believe her age played a role, the suit states.

The plaintiff missed many meal and rest breaks while trying to catch up on the backlog of work and she subsequently had to undergo knee surgery after an April 2021 fall, according to the suit, which further states that Violante delayed her surgery to help with the workload.

Disney managers later made it difficult for Violante to take time off for medical appointments, prompting one boss to ask her, "When are you going to retire?" the suit alleges.

A representative of Disney's human resources department told Violante in May 2023 that she was being terminated as part of a mass company layoff, but the plaintiff later found out she was the only member of her department losing her job, despite her seniority, the suit states.

Management viewed Violante's layoff as a retirement, even though she never requested a retirement, the suit alleges.

"Moreover, over the years I have suffered numerous hurtful comments and innuendo regarding my age, questioning when I am going to retire," Violante stated in an email to management, according to the complaint.

Last September, Violante was offered another business analyst position, but she continued to press for the justification for her layoff in the first place and she feared more discrimination and harassment if she returned, the suit states.

"To this day, it remains unclear what metrics Disney used to evaluate her performance, especially given that, prior to this, no one had notified Violante of any performance deficiencies," the suit states.

Violante received an email in November congratulating her on her "retirement," according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff believes she is the victim of age and disability discrimination.

Violante has suffered lost earnings and emotional distress due to losing her job, the suit states.