Photo: Kim Kulish / The Image Bank Unreleased / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A 73-year-old woman has dropped her lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. in which she alleged she was terminated in 2023 because of her age as well as a medical disability and that management refused to explain why she was the only member of her department laid off.
Deborah Violante's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations also included retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment. On Friday, Violante's attorneys filed court papers with Judge Daniel S. Murphy asking that Violante's lawsuit be dismissed "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be refiled.
The court papers do not indicated whether a settlement was reached or if Violante is not pursuing the case for other reasons. In their previous court papers, Disney attorneys denied Violante's allegations and said the company was not the plaintiff's employer and that her causes of action were barred anyway wholly or in part by the statute of limitations.
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 alleged. "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 stated.
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 stated.
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 stated 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 alleged.
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 stated.
Management viewed Violante's layoff as a retirement, even though she never requested a retirement, the suit filed July 23 alleged.
"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.
In September 2023, 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 stated.
"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 stated.
Violante received an email in November 2023 congratulating her on her "retirement," according to the suit, which further stated that the plaintiff believes she is the victim of age and disability discrimination.
