Walt Disney Studios Alameda entrance. Courtesy photo

Two employees of The Walt Disney Co. have filed a class action alleging that its studio entertainment division systemically underpays women, compared with men.

The complaint, filed Tuesday, which was observed as Equal Pay Day, alleges that Disney treats women as “cheap labor,” paying them tens of thousands of dollars less than male colleagues. The two plaintiffs, both women, brought the lawsuit on behalf of a class of thousands of current and former California employees of Walt Disney Studios, which has offices in Burbank and Glendale, as of April 1, 2015.

“It's beyond dispute that women are paid less in every single industry in the United States,” said Lori Andrus, the lawyer who brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court. “The reasons these women are paid less are based on systems within Disney. We have every reason to believe other women are impacted systemically.”

A Disney spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a report by investment advisory firm Arjuna Capital and Proxy Impact, released this week, which found that half of the world's largest 46 companies failed a pay equality test. Disney, which last month announced it would acquire 21st Century Fox for $71 billion, wasn't on that list. Last year, however, Disney released data finding that its male employees in the United Kingdom made 22 percent more than did its women.

The lawsuit also comes as several other companies, like Salesforce and Apple, have conducted their own pay audits, revealing gender disparities.

Andrus, a partner at San Francisco's Andrus Anderson, has brought several pay equity lawsuits, including one against Farmers Insurance on behalf of 300 former women attorneys that settled in 2016 for $5.9 million.

In the Disney complaint, plaintiff LaRonda Rasmussen, who has worked there for 11 years, raised concerns with the human resources department about her pay in 2017. At the time, she was making $109,958 as a manager of product development, but six men with the same title made $26,000 more on average, with one earning $40,000 more. Disney said her salary was “not due to gender” but gave her a $25,000 raise, citing “market forces.”

“Her pay increase is not enough,” Andrus said. “It's too little, too late. The explanation we allege is bogus, and we'd like to examine the compensation systems across the board to see how women are impacted.”

Plaintiff Karen Moore, a senior copyright administrator within the Disney Music Group, who worked for the company for 23 years, alleged she was discouraged from applying for a management job that ended up going to a man.

The complaint claims the problems are systemic, noting that Disney's board of directors is mostly men, as is its executive leadership team.

“Another systemic problem is that Disney, at least until recently, was asking about salary history on the applications for jobs, and that perpetuates gender discrimination,” Andrus said.