One of the largest third-party restaurant operators on Disney World property has been ordered by the federal labor board to offer reinstatement to a cashier who was allegedly fired in retaliation for her union activism, in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
The complaint from the National Labor Relations Board’s regional director, issued May 27, comes about a year and a half after the Patina Group, a restaurant operator at Disney Springs, fired Julissa Ruiz.
Ruiz, a former cashier at Pizza Ponte, had been a prominent public face in an ongoing effort to organize a union at five Patina Group restaurants at Disney Springs, and had spoken up about experiencing sexual harassment involving a supervisor on the job.
She was officially suspended, then fired, from her job in October 2024 for walking into work with an earbud in, even as the accusing supervisor kept his in. The firing occurred shortly after Ruiz participated in a flyering event at Disney Springs in support of the union drive.
“To be organizing with the union, I feel stronger, I feel more safe,” Ruiz shared more than two years ago, as she and other Disney Springs workers first announced their union drive. “Before I didn’t have a voice,” the now-25 year-old said. “Now, I can raise my voice.”
In response to the accusations, and testimony provided by Ruiz, the NLRB has also ordered the Patina Group to award her back pay.
“For the last year and a half, I have been fighting. Now, this complaint makes me feel like it was worth it,” Ruiz said at a press conference Tuesday. “Now Patina has the chance to bring me back to work and give me back pay. If they don’t, a trial is scheduled for September 15, 2026, and I’m ready.”
The Patina Group, a subsidiary of the multinational company Delaware North, operates a number of restaurants at Disney Springs, including Pizza Ponte, Maria & Enzo’s, Enzo’s Hideaway, Morimoto Asia and The Edison. The Patina Group also operates restaurants at EPCOT, where some workers are already unionized with the labor union Unite Here Local 737.
“When workers show up to their jobs, the very minimum they expect is that their employers will follow the law,” said Ella Wood, political and research director for Unite Here Local 737, a labor union that represents 19,000 workers employed by Disney World and other local hospitality employers.
“That’s what a company like Disney should be able to expect when they contract a third party like Patina to operate on their property. It’s a bare minimum, but Patina has failed to meet it.”
Workers at Patina Group restaurants at Disney Springs first announced they were organizing a union with Unite Here Local 737 in April 2024, asking for a fair process to organize without fear of retaliation or a fight from Patina.
Ruiz was fired months later, but an unfair labor practice charge filed with the NLRB claims that Patina management also unlawfully surveilled employees’ union activities at its Space 220 Restaurant at Disney and “threatened employees with the elimination of hybrid jobs” if they decided to vote or sign a card in favor of forming a union.
Related Stories
Disney Springs worker allegedly fired for pro-union activity, speaking up about sexual harassment
The Patina Group has since issued a response to this latest NLRB complaint, denying all unfair labor practice allegations made against it, including the restaurant’s firing of Ruiz, who was living on a friend’s couch at the time she was fired because her pay wasn’t enough to keep up with Central Florida’s rent prices.
“Any and all employment actions affecting Julissa Ruiz were taken in good faith and based upon legitimate, non-discriminatory, grounds,” the response reads.
The Patina Group also joined major corporations like Space X and Amazon that are arguing the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, in a bid to similarly evade unfair labor practice charges levied against them.
“I cannot believe that a year and a half in, despite a decision from the labor board, this is still the position Patina Group continues to take,” said State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who has been on the side of the Patina Group workers since they first announced their union organizing drive two years ago.
“It is shameful,” she added, of the Patina Group’s deflection.
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-FL, went a step further, calling on the Patina Group to put its money where its mouth is if it really wants to claim the federal labor relations agency is unconstitutional.
“If they think that, they should litigate it,” Frost argued at Tuesday’s press conference. “Put your money where your mouth is. Take it to court. But they won’t do that,” he argued, “because they know that they’re full of shit.”
“They know that they’re full of shit”
U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost, D-FL
Leading up to and after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, a number of high-profile companies such as Amazon, Starbucks, SpaceX and Trader Joe’s similarly challenged the NLRB’s constitutionality in an effort to dismantle it.
“Part of their strategy is to delay, delay, delay, delay, delay,” Frost told Orlando Weekly. “Because they can afford to be in court. They can afford to wait, but while a worker is missing out on their paycheck week after week after week, they’re hoping that they’ll give up.”
“They know it’s not unconstitutional,” Frost added. “There’s a reason why this hasn’t gotten to the Supreme Court, and why it hasn’t been ruled against ever since these laws were passed. But they say it because they use it to delay the legal process, because they can wait longer.”
All of these employers — evidently hoping the conservative majority on the Supreme Court will side with their anti-NLRB agenda — have been accused of unfair labor practices, or violations of federal labor law under the National Labor Relations Act.
The NLRA, a federal law passed in 1935, protects the rights of private-sector workers to organize and form unions.
It also makes it unlawful for employers to surveil, coerce or retaliate against workers for engaging in so-called “protected concerted activities,” including organizing a union to improve wages or working conditions.
“I think the reality is that most workers don’t even know that these laws exist, because they’re not necessarily involved with a union,” said Eskamani.
In 2025, less than 7 percent of Florida’s workforce had union representation, according to federal data. In the private sector, less than 4 percent do.
Other workers employed by Patina Group restaurants at EPCOT’s Italy Pavilion, who are already unionized with Unite Here, recently urged Disney World not to give the Patina Group more business. They pointed to Ruiz’s firing and other allegations of violations of labor law to justify this call-to-action. On Tuesday, four workers also accused the Patina Group of wage theft.
“We grew up being told that if you work hard and play by the rules, then you’re going to make it in this country, that you’re gonna have a fair shake at the American dream,” said Eskamani.
“And time and time again, we see evidence to the contrary,” she added. “And it’s not because you’re not working hard, it’s not because you’re not following the rules. It’s because the system has been rigged by large corporations against you to steal your wages, to allow discrimination and harassment to persist, and then to make you the problem when you’re the one experiencing the problem.”
“The system has been rigged by large corporations against you to steal your wages, to allow discrimination and harassment to persist”
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando
Lauren Hewitt, a server at the Patina-owned Maria & Enzo’s restaurant at Disney Springs, remarked during the press conference that she was “not surprised” the Patina Group is fighting its charges and prolonging the process of owning up to their actions.
“They do the same thing to us every single day,” she told the Weekly. “They tell us, ‘Oh, OK,’ and then they do everything they can to delay what we’ve asked for.”
A trial date for Ruiz’s ULP charge is scheduled for Sept. 15. In the meantime, the Patina Group has been ordered to offer Ruiz reinstatement to her job at Pizza Ponte and to compensate her back pay. If they do not, it will be further litigated at the trial.
“I want my job back,” Ruiz confirmed to the Weekly, when asked if she would return to Pizza Ponte, if offered the chance. “I’m fighting for my job back.”
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
