Originally Posted By monorailblue I know lots of folks here will get a kick out of this link: <a href="http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0206" target="_blank">http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi ?0206</a>%2FB179854 A former Security Cast Member attempted to initiate a class action lawsuit against Disney to force the company to pay employees for the time involved in riding the shuttle from the Katella Lot. The court found that his claims were without merit, principally becuase Disney does not require anyone to drive to work or to ride the shuttle. As many as 10% of CMs do not do this. Anyhow, if you're the lawyer-ish type, it isn't a bad read. Here's an alternate link, in case the above one doesn't work: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/a9ory" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/a9ory</a>
Originally Posted By Tiggirl While I admit that taking the cast shuttle could be a bit of a pain at times... Disney does let people clock out 20 minutes prior to the end of their shift to help make up for this (and if they need to change from their costume, etc.) So instead of getting off at 230am it was like I was really getting off at 210am. Whee! LOL! ~Beth <a href="http://www.mousehub.com" target="_blank">http://www.mousehub.com</a>
Originally Posted By DisneyChica I remember that, Tiggirl. I could never make it out of Harbor Point in 15 minutes, but that's my own fault, not Disney's.
Originally Posted By imagineer1985 "The court found that his claims were without merit, principally becuase Disney does not require anyone to drive to work or to ride the shuttle. As many as 10% of CMs do not do this. Anyhow, if you're the lawyer-ish type, it isn't a bad read." Well, Thats news to me because they are trying to crack down on people being dropped off at the 15 minute parking. you are supposed to be dropped off at the k-lot same for if you are riding the bus. Interesting. Too bad they didnt win. A multi billion$ company won't pay for their employees to ride the shuttle.
Originally Posted By cmpaley >>Well, Thats news to me because they are trying to crack down on people being dropped off at the 15 minute parking. you are supposed to be dropped off at the k-lot same for if you are riding the bus.<< Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I can see it now. A CM coming from LA takes the Metro 460 and is dropped off in front of Disneyland, about 150 feet from the CM entrance, but they're supposed to go all the way over to a parking lot, so they have to take two Orange County buses to get to where the shuttle will take them back to where they started. That's silly!
Originally Posted By iluvdisneyland "Interesting. Too bad they didnt win. A multi billion$ company won't pay for their employees to ride the shuttle." It's not even an intelligent complaint. Would you expect Microsoft to pay for its employees commute time? That's what it is, commute time. Deal with it and move on. And park at BCML. It's better anyways. K lot smells like pee - literally.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Lets look at the average worker in a large shopping mall... The area they are expected to park changes depending on the season, but is usually a far distance from the actually mall, or on a distance lot during the Christmas season. When do they start to get paid, when they clock in at the actual store they work for. Heck, most everyone has a commute, and/or parking issues, but your boss still expects you "at your desk" at the starting time, you are expected to plan accordingly to make sure you are at work on time. Glad the judge got it right.
Originally Posted By Indigo Based on my reading of the decision, it looks like the judge got it right based on existing CA law. But I still think it's sad that employees who are required to park at a lot that, because of traffic, distance, and having to sometimes wait for a shuttle, can require you to be as much as 1 hour early for your shift just in order to clock in on time and not get paid for that hour. I think the correct remedy would be for Disney to offer walking-distance parking for all employees and compensate any employees who are forced to shuttle in from remote lots (sometimes as far away as Angel Stadium, if I recall). If Disney does not want to pay for this, they could offer other compensation (park tickets, free meals, comp time) and make parking in the remote lot voluntary.
Originally Posted By SFH Disney was off the hook for the time period cited because people could, strictly speaking, walk to work. They were not literally forced to ride the KCML shuttle, though that was what almost everyone did. On Disneyland wages, not a lot of people can afford to live walking distance from Harbor Pointe. It may be different NOW... for security reasons, people may be encouraged to take the KCML shuttle whether they are walking, riding a bike, taking the bus, or being dropped off. And as far as taking public transit or being dropped of by family members... more and more cast members live halfway to Arizona due to wages + housing costs, so public transit (transfers and such) takes a really long time, and being dropped off by a friend or family member only works if they are working nearby. There are only so many people who can "afford" to live in the immediate area... there are only so many live-at-home young people, retirees, teachers, and housewives looking for a job. Disney reduced SOME of the time it takes to "get" to work by taking away personal lockers from much of the cast and having them wear their costumes too and from the Resort. It's incredibly bad show, but to me, it looks like Disney has tried to reduce bad show outside of the Resort by making the costumes more generic, thereby taking away from show INSIDE the Resort. By making the Cast Members take their costumes home, the Cast Members no longer had to get dressed twice when they woke up and went to work. They'd just put on their costume at home, and go in. Of course, with the traffic, traffic lights, parking, walking to the shuttle, riding the shuttle, clocking in, checking in, and getting to your work location, you could live nearby and still have to head to work an hour before your shift. Back to the matter at hand... cast members at that time were not strictly required to ride the shuttle, so the law does not compell Disney to pay for the time. Nobody should forget that people APPLY to work for an employer, and if they do not like what that employer is doing, they are free to seek another employer or become self-employed. It seems like people are more quick to divorce a spouse who has changed their behavior than leave an employer who is now treating them differently than before.
Originally Posted By getnby It's a sad commentary on life in these United States that the court system had to burn up their time and effort over a complaint of this nature. MEGO.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< It's incredibly bad show, but to me, it looks like Disney has tried to reduce bad show outside of the Resort by making the costumes more generic, thereby taking away from show INSIDE the Resort. >>> I highly doubt that making the costumes more generic had anything to do with a desire to reduce bad show.
Originally Posted By monorailblue ^^^ Actually, it did. Simplified Costumes served many purposes. One of the biggest was to save money---cheaper designs, fewer pieces = less to maintain, clean, etc. But that went hand in hand with trying to spiff up everyone's image. One previous bad show problem was when Costuming simply ran out of what they needed---forcing CMs to work in a partial costume only. As an example, prior to the current Fantasyland costumes, (late 90s), the Fantasyland Stores Hostess costume had the folling parts: Blouse Skirt Slip Stockings (2) Waist String for tying Waist Apron Vest plus jacket, coat, cold gear and rain gear. I think there was also an optional hat, but I don't remember, and maybe a belt, as well. After the new costumes began to roll in (I think Fantasyland hit in about 1999), the same costume was reduced to: Blouse Skirt and the cold weather gear. The styles and colors were updated and the costumes simplified in an attempt to improve Show and Efficiency (profit). Do I think Show improved? No, I generally do not think show improved with all new costumes. (Witness Tomorrowland 1998---what a horrible, wretched mess, and the Adventureland/Indy Blizzard of Khaki.) However many costumes look pretty snazzy compared to previous iterations. Interestingly, outside-the-park show was also a concern early on. When FastTrack for Costumes first began, it was limited to simple and generic Costumes only. The goal was to continue simplyifying so that more and more costumes could be FastTracked as time went by, leading up to DCA's opening. I think in the early days, though, no one ever expected Mansion or Pirates to be FastTracked. But in today's labor market, Disney simply couldn't (and, ultimately, didn't want to) let some be FastTracked and limit others. So now the whole resort gets to parade their Disney duds to the whole world. A net loss, IMHO.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Interesting insight. And it shows how ridiculous it all is. Efficiency over show.
Originally Posted By SpoonCM >>While I admit that taking the cast shuttle could be a bit of a pain at times... Disney does let people clock out 20 minutes prior to the end of their shift to help make up for this (and if they need to change from their costume, etc.) So instead of getting off at 230am it was like I was really getting off at 210am. Whee! LOL!<< Walk times had been for union jobs. Non-union CMs do not get walk times. And from what I remember about "walk-time," it was meant to be let go from location 20 minutes before your end time. You still clocked out at your end time...clocking out 20 minutes before your end time has always been a no-no. Maybe it has slid a bit letting CMs clock out early and still getting paid their full shift...but that's all changing soon. New clocking procedures will end this clocking in/out early/late but still getting paid a full shift. Bye Bye OPS!
Originally Posted By imadisneygal As a CM in Guest Relations I was non-union but I was still given walk-time. And what SpoonCM says is true - while you can leave your work location and change clothes, etc., you cannot clock out early. There were always loads of CM's waiting at Harbor House to clock out on time.
Originally Posted By Blacksheep Uncle >>you cannot clock out early.<< wow...that's just like a real job...
Originally Posted By imadisneygal Well, most of us viewed (or still view) it as such. It never bothered me if I had to wait when I finished changing early. Sometimes I was unlucky and the line at costuming was crazy and I was late going home. Those were the exceptions, though. Personally I thought the walk time thing was too long for what we needed to do but it was worked into the union contracts and for some reason Guest Relations adopted it, too.
Originally Posted By tiggertoo <<wow...that's just like a real job... >> Sort of. But you had to clock-in well before your start time to either get to your location or change into your costume. Say you had a start time of 4:45, that wasn’t a clock-in time at the gate, but at the location (meaning you had to be present at the location by that time). So you would clock-in 30 to 45 minutes early depending on where that location is. When you clocked out, however,it was at the gate, not at the location.
Originally Posted By peeaanuut im gonna sue my work. I have to get dressed to go to work (my uniform, even though I got to pick it out) and GASP!!!! even drive to work. That takes some time. AND IM NOT GETTING PAID!!!!! THOSE THEIVES. Come on people are you kidding me? Getting paid to travel to work? Its part of the job that YOU chose. This is un flippin believable.
