A California judge has approved Walt Disney’s $233 million settlement with 51,478 Disneyland employees who said the entertainment company denied them a living wage.
The class-action settlement won final approval on Tuesday by Judge William Claster of the Orange County Superior Court, who called the accord fair, reasonable, adequate and consistent with public policy.
About $179.6 million will go to class members, according to court papers.
Another $17.5 million represents a civil penalty being paid to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, while $35 million will go to the employees’ lawyers. Remaining sums will cover other costs.
The lawsuit began in December 2019, after Disney claimed it was exempt from a minimum wage law approved a year earlier by voters in Anaheim, wh