Less than a year since Disney finally settled a pay inequity class action from female employees with a $43 million payout, the company now is facing similar claims in a new suit from one of its former top lawyers.
Let’s just put it plainly, when someone like Alisa Clairet, a 20-year veteran of the House of Mouse and an ex-temporary co-head of the Legal Affairs group at Disney Channel, accuses Disney of violating the Equity Pay Act, and lashing out with retaliation and discrimination, you know this is personal — very personal.
“From the beginning of her career with the Disney Channel at The Walt Disney Company in May 2005 through the end of her career at Disney in October 2024, Alisa Clairet was paid substantially less than her male counterpart – another lawyer with the same experience, qualifications and job duties as Ms. Clairet in the same legal affairs department,” the seven-claim August 15 filing in LA Superior Court states. “Not only was she paid less, she consistently did more work and had more responsibilities than her male counterpart,” the 12-page document goes on to say.
“When Ms. Clairet brought this inequality to Disney’s attention she was ignored.”
“Even after Disney was sued by a class of women alleging company-wide pay discrimination, Disney continued to ignore her,” asserts Clairet and her Brown, Neri, Smith & Khan lawyer Nathan M Smith. “Then, after announcing a settlement of the class action, Disney laid off Ms. Clairet as punishment for her efforts to secure equal pay and non-discrimination from Disney. This lawsuit follows to seek justice for decades of pay inequality and discrimination.”
Specifically, Clairet is going after Disney for violation of California’s Pay Equity Act, disparate treatment based on sex, retaliation in violation of the Golden State’s Pay Equity Act, retaliation in violation of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, failure to pay wages due to discharged employees, violations of California’s Unfair Competition Act, and wage penalties.
It’s a lot.
Adding insult to injury, Clairet and her lawyer Smith notes of her September 24, 2024 so-called cost cutting pink slipping from Disney in October 20204 that her “male counterpart kept his job.”
The filing goes on to note: “Upon the termination date, Ms. Clairet received a severance payment pursuant to a written plan but was not asked to sign any release.” If truly the case, the latter may be what keeps this suit out of arbitration. The former, with that male colleague, could prove the spear of Disney’s destiny here. “if the reasons for the layoffs were due cost-cutting, and efficiencies as Ms. Clairet was explicitly told, then the higher paid and less effective male Principal Counsel should have been selected.”
“Given the substantial salary disparity between the two, eliminating Ms. Clairet’s position also eliminated another glaring example of Disney’s discriminatory pay policies and practices.”
In what may be a poison pill for Disney, Clairet’s jury trial seeking filing is not only looking for a plethora of damages, but “backpay, reinstatement, or front pay in lieu of reinstatement.”
Clairet’s filing in LASC two weeks ago came with just a day to go before the ex-in-house attorney could opt-out of the back pay, lost benefits and more class action first launched by Disney staffers LaRonda Rasmussen and Karen Moore in 2019 and settled last November,
Disney fought that case tooth and nail, but, after several setbacks in court and a 2025 trial getting closer by the day, the company reached a deal with the up to 14,000 eligible class members of female Disney employees past and present from 2015 to 2024. While not chump change, the $43.25 million was a lot less than the $300 million plaintiffs lawyers were looking for once they received class certification in December 2023.
Disney did not responded when reached out to by Deadline about Clairet’s suit.
They have also not responded in court as of this Labour Day. In fact, since the former Disney lawyer sued her corporate alma mater on August 15, there hasn’t been much activity on the docket except to get a new judge assigned — which was done on August 25 with Judge Brook T Hammond taking over.
Now that summer’s over, that might be about to change.
