Walt Disney World Parks & Resorts wants to keep a “toxic employee list” secret, despite a lawsuit demanding the company make the document public.
The list is part of a 2015 lawsuit filed by Security Officer Xonia Book, who claims Disney discriminated by not promoting her then retaliated after she complained by putting her name on a “toxic employee list.”
Book, who has worked for Disney since 1995, has applied several times for a manager position but has never been promoted.
This is the second time Book has sued Disney for discrimination. She lost a 2011 case in which she claimed discrimination because she is Colombian. In the latest lawsuit, Book said she applied for a promotion for which she was qualified but could not get an interview.
Book’s attorney, Jerry Girley, filed a motion in the case seeking a “toxic-employee document” in an effort to prove discrimination.
Disney found “several documents … that were part of a 2011 organizational plan designed to improve effectiveness of the Security Department,” the company said in court documents.
The company has asked the court to keep the information secret because “the documents contain commercially sensitive and proprietary information such as WDPR’s internal security procedures and organizational strategies, while others include personal information about other company employees.”
Girley said the admission of the list is “proof that Disney has an internal blackballing system.”
“If a Disney employee files a complaint against the company, their name is put in a “secret file, which is circulated to all managers,” Girley said. “Once an employee’s name is on the list, no matter how qualified they are, they will never get an interview or another promotion.”