Cinderella Castle is decorated with gold ribbons, blue banners, a 50th-anniversary sign and EARidescent embellishment at Magic Kingdom Park during "The World's Most Magical Celebration" - the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World Resort! on September 30, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Fil photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
June 22 (UPI) -- A proposed class action lawsuit accuses Disney of inducing workers to sell their California homes and move to Florida to work there as part of an eventually canceled project.
Maria De La Cruz and George Fong in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court say Disney officials in July 2021 told them and about 250 other workers at the Disney park, experiences and product team to choose between moving to Lake Nona in central Florida and losing their jobs.
Both did as part of a planned Disney campus project costing $1 billion in Lake Nona that was canceled after the workers relocated there in 2022. Disney planned to bring 2,000 jobs to the Orlando area, which includes Disney World. Disneyland is located in Anaheim, Calif.
Fong is a Disney creative director and says he sold his family home in Los Angeles, which had been in his family for decades, and stayed in a hotel in Florida while his new home in Orlando was readied.
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De La Cruz is a Disney vice president of product design, and says she sold her home in Altadena and moved her family to Florida.
After both relocated, along with other Disney workers, the company canceled the project and told the group of workers to move back to California.
Disney in May 2023 notified workers that "considerable changes have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions."
Those changes included replacing former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who announced the Lake Nona campus project. New CEO Bob Iger canceled the Lake Nona project.
Fong says they were given the notice to move back to California within six months of him selling his California home and paying for a new one in Florida.
He says he was forced to sell the Florida home, which was virtually unsellable at first and took four months to find a buyer.
De La Cruz is undergoing the moving process to return to California to resume working at Disney's office in Glendale.
Given the current housing market in California, De La Cruz and Fong say they were forced to buy homes whose qualities are less than they had before the induced selling of their old homes.
They also are paying higher interest rates for their new mortgages.
Fong and De La Cruz accuse Disney of concealment and misrepresentation and say the company's eventual compensation offers were much less than the actual costs.
The plaintiffs want other Disney workers to join the lawsuit to create a class action.
De La Cruz is a Disney vice president of product design, and says she sold her home in Altadena and moved her family to Florida.
After both relocated, along with other Disney workers, the company canceled the project and told the group of workers to move back to California.
Disney in May 2023 notified workers that "considerable changes have occurred since the announcement of this project, including new leadership and changing business conditions."
Those changes included replacing former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who announced the Lake Nona campus project. New CEO Bob Iger canceled the Lake Nona project.
Fong says they were given the notice to move back to California within six months of him selling his California home and paying for a new one in Florida.
He says he was forced to sell the Florida home, which was virtually unsellable at first and took four months to find a buyer.
De La Cruz is undergoing the moving process to return to California to resume working at Disney's office in Glendale.
Given the current housing market in California, De La Cruz and Fong say they were forced to buy homes whose qualities are less than they had before the induced selling of their old homes.
They also are paying higher interest rates for their new mortgages.
Fong and De La Cruz accuse Disney of concealment and misrepresentation and say the company's eventual compensation offers were much less than the actual costs.
The plaintiffs want other Disney workers to join the lawsuit to create a class action.
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