By Mike Schneider
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) --Disney workers are suing their employer, claiming they were fraudulently induced to move from California to Florida to work in a new office campus only to have those plans later scrapped amid a fight between the entertainment giant and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In July 2021, the Disney Parks' chief told workers in California that most white-collar employees would be transferred to the new campus in Orlando to consolidate different teams and allow for greater collaboration.
As many as 2,000 workers in digital technology, finance and product development departments would be transferred to the campus located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort, the company said at the time.
Many workers were reluctant to make the move given their longstanding ties to Southern California and fears of uprooting their families, but Disney encouraged the move by promising a state-of-the-art, centralized workplace and greater affordability in central Florida, according to the class action lawsuit filed earlier this week.
"In sum, employees were incentivized to move through a combination of reward and punishment," the lawsuit said. "An employee could choose to move to a better life in Florida, or alternatively, choose not to move and be terminated by Disney."
By late 2021, as large numbers of Disney employees resisted relocating, Disney told them to put their moving plans on hold. Meanwhile, a group of workers who had decided to relocate, including the lead plaintiffs, Maria De La Cruz and George Fong, sold their California homes with the understanding that the company expected them to make the move, and they purchased homes in central Florida, the lawsuit said.
Fong, who works as a creative director of product design, sold his childhood home which he had inherited.
By June 2022, though, Disney leaders told the California workers that the opening of the new Orlando campus was being delayed and that they could postpone moving until 2026 but were still encouraged to relocate by 2024.
By this time, DeSantis had begun a feud with Disney over the company's public opposition to a Florida law which bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. With the help of Republicans in the Florida Legislature, DeSantis revamped the governing district for Walt Disney World and installed his own appointees to its board in early 2023. Before the DeSantis takeover, the governing district had been controlled by supporters of Disney for more than five decades.
By May 2023, Disney told its workers that the plans to open the $1 billion campus in Orlando were being scrapped and that the workers who had moved to Florida could move back to California if they chose.
According to the lawsuit, many of the workers who had moved to Florida were worried about their job security if they didn't relocate back to California since most of their team members were still there and the company lacked the facilities in Florida to accommodate the teams.
After the decision to pull the plug on the Orlando campus, housing prices surrounding the campus dropped and the price of housing in California continued to increase, just as mortgage interest rates also rose higher in 2023. Fong and De La Cruz, a vice president of product design, have moved back or plan to move back to California and are seeking undisclosed economic and punitive damages.
"Other similarly situated individuals have been forced to purchase or rent less desirable housing upon their return to California," the lawsuit said.
Disney didn't respond to an email seeking comment on Friday.
Earlier this month, Disney and the DeSantis appointees to Disney World's governing district formally ended their fight over control of the government by signing a 15-year development agreement. Under the deal, the DeSantis appointees committed the district to making infrastructure improvements in exchange for Disney investing up to $17 billion into Disney World over the next two decades.
Nike’s quarterly sales and profits slump as it faces shoppers’ sluggish demand for its products
Nike sales and profits slumped in its fiscal first quarter as the sportswear giant wrestles with shoppers' sluggish demand for new sneaker models and other products.
The lackluster results Tuesday came after Nike announced last month that its CEO, John Donahoe, is stepping down on Oct. 13. Company veteran Elliott Hill is coming out of retirement to head up the company.
"A comeback at this scale takes time, but we see early wins — from momentum in key sports to accelerating our pace of newness and innovation," said Matthew Friend, executive vice president and Nike's chief financial officer, in statement. "Our teams are energized as Elliott Hill returns to lead Nike's next stage of growth."
Friend told analysts Tuesday that, given its CEO transition and with three quarters left in the fiscal year, Nike has withdrawn its full-year financial-performance guidance and intends to provide a quarterly outlook for the balance of the fiscal year. It also postponed its investor meeting that had been scheduled for Nov. 19.
Nike has been known for its innovation but in recent years, analysts have said that it has lost its focus on coming up with cool products.
Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, said that some of the sales decline was due to a weaker consumer economy that has shoppers buying fewer sneakers and not splurging on clothing as they once did.
"Nike has done itself no favors with a lack of focus and oomph in a market where far more effort and exertion is needed to hold onto sales," he said. "There is a general sense that Nike has lost its edge and that the power of its innovation and the quality of its storytelling have both been faded."
Saunders noted that at the same time, smaller rival brands... Read More