Nov 26 (Reuters) - Walt Disney ( DIS ) has agreed to pay

$43.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its female

employees in California earned $150 million less than their male

counterparts over an eight-year period, the plaintiffs' lawyers

said in a statement on Monday.

As part of the settlement, Disney ( DIS ) has agreed to retain a

labour economist for three years to analyse pay equity among

full-time, non-union California employees below the vice

president level, and address differences, the three law firms

representing the plaintiffs said.

The suit was originally filed by LaRonda Rasmussen in 2019,

after she learned that six men with the same job title earned

substantially more than her, including one man with several

years less experience, who was earning $20,000 a year more than

she did.

Some 9,000 current and former female employees of the

entertainment company eventually joined the suit. Disney ( DIS )

attempted to stop the class action, but a judge ruled last

December that it could proceed, Andrus Anderson, one of the law

firms, said at the time.

"I strongly commend Ms Rasmussen and the women who brought

this discrimination suit against Disney ( DIS ), one of the largest

entertainment companies in the world. They risked their careers

to raise pay disparity at Disney ( DIS )," Lori Andrus, a partner at

Andrus Anderson, said in Monday's statement.

Disney ( DIS ) has previously disputed the lawsuit's allegations and

findings. It did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for

a comment.

The case was also supported by an analysis of Disney's ( DIS ) human

resource data from April 2015 until December 2022 that found

female Disney ( DIS ) employees were paid roughly 2% less than their

male counterparts. The analysis was conducted by David Neumark,

a University of California Irvine professor and labour

economist.

The settlement agreement, which was filed in a California

state court, still requires approval by a judge, according to

the lawyers.