These employees moved across the country for work, then Disney canceled the project. Now they’re suing.
CNN
Two employees are suing the Walt Disney Company, saying the company moved their jobs from California to Florida, only for Disney to cancel the project and move them back, hurting them financially and emotionally.
Two employees are suing the Walt Disney Company, saying the company moved their jobs from California to Florida, only for Disney to cancel the project and move them back, hurting them financially and emotionally. They’re proposing a class action, alleging there are many others in a similar situation. In 2021, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced a move of 2,000 positions from California to Florida. But in May 2023, after CEO Bob Iger returned, the company canceled the $1 billion Lake Nona office complex amid a legal and political battle with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that has since been settled. The plaintiffs, Maria De La Cruz and George Fong, both work for Disney’s product design division. De La Cruz is vice president of product design, and Fong is a creative director, according to the complaint filed by Lohr Ripamonti LLP on Tuesday. The lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount in damages, has not yet been processed by the Superior Court of Los Angeles. The complaint alleges that Disney misrepresented and concealed its true plans for the Lake Nona project, hurting – financially and otherwise – at least 250 employees who had made the move from California to Florida.