A 73-Year-Old Former Employee Is Suing Disney For Age Discrimination and Retaliation
A 73-year-old woman is suing The Walt Disney Company after she says she was fired because of her age.
Deborah Violante, who worked for Disney for 20 years, has filed suit against the company after being let go in 2023.


Walt Disney Company
After repeated efforts to get an explanation for why she was terminated from both management and HR, the former employee alleges that Disney used the guise of the company’s mass layoffs to terminate her. Disney then unilaterally retired Violante.
“As Violante got older, she became subjected to a campaign of discrimination and harassment based on her age,” the filing reads.


The Walt Disney Company
“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. When Violante was 73 years old, Disney boldly – and illegally – unilaterally ‘retired’ Violante from the company even though she had never asked to retire and never authorized anyone to retire her.”
Violante’s Relationship With Disney Began to Sour in 2020
According to Violante, her relationship with Disney began to go south when she was one of the last employees brought back from the company’s 2020 furlough. The longtime employee says she was then foiled every time she tried to use her paid time off to get necessary knee surgery.


Photo: The Walt Disney Company
Eventually, Violante lost her vacation time because she was not allowed to use it. The lawsuit then alleges that her co-worker Robert Jeff Downs, who would be tasked with covering her work should she go on vacation, exasperatedly asked, “When are you going to retire?”


Photo: The Walt Disney Company
“Disney’s mistreatment of, and animus towards, Violante was so brazen as to be observed by other Cast Members, causing one of them to confide in Violante that it appears Disney wants her to quit or retire,” the lawsuit continues.
The Business Analyst Was Terminated in 2023
Violante was terminated on May 22, 2023, as part of Disney’s nearly 7,000 layoffs. After learning that she was the only person in her department affected by the cuts, Violante tried to contact Disney.
After the company initially treated her departure as a retirement, Violante accused them of age discrimination. Disney quickly changed their tune and said that her termination was “an involuntary separation due to a reduction in force.”


Photo: Disney
Despite her efforts, Disney never gave Violante a reason for being targeted by the layoffs. Last September, the company offered her another business analyst position, but she says she feared more discrimination and harassment.
Then, in November, Disney sent her an email congratulating her on her retirement.
“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 states.


Photo: cba.cj
Violante is suing for lost earnings, emotional distress, and other damages. The trial will be by jury.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below. One of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond-level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, Thanks for reading!