Disney Loses Shareholder Vote On Increased Pay Equity Disclosure

By Jill Goldsmith, March 9, 2022

Nearly 60% of Walt Disney stockholders voted to approve a shareholder proposal for greater transparency on pay data – specifically a request that Disney report on both median and adjusted pay gaps across race and gender.

The vote is big — one of the first majority-supported shareholder proposals at Disney in years and one with particularly significant backing. Pay equity is becoming increasingly top of mind for investors concerned with racial justice and economic inequality. In Disney’s case, investors are also keenly aware of potential reputational risk.

Pay gaps are defined as the median pay of minorities and women compared with that of non-minorities and men. So-called best practice pay equity reporting is two part, the proposal says: unadjusted median pay gaps, assessing equal opportunity to high-paying roles; and statistically adjusted gaps, assessing whether minorities and non-minorities, men and women, are paid the same for similar roles. Disney does not report its unadjusted or adjusted pay gaps.

Click here to read the full article.