A group of nearly a dozen local and state elected officials, including four Orange County commissioners, have sent letters to the Walt Disney Co. asking that they investigate allegations of workers rights’ violations made against the Patina Group, a third-party company that operates five restaurants on the Disney Springs property and three restaurants at Disney’s EPCOT in Lake Buena Vista.
Allegations against the Patina Group include violations of federal labor law — specifically interfering with workers’ right to form a union — as well as what’s seen as violations of Disney’s supply chain code of conduct. This code of conduct includes compliance with federal and state law and prohibits harassment or abuse of employees on the job.
At least two young female Patina Group employees have publicly spoken up about sexual harassment they allegedly experienced on the job at the hands of a supervisor, who they say managed to keep his job even after it was reported. One of the young women who spoke out about it, meanwhile, was fired by the Patina Group shortly after. The official reason she was given for her firing was for wearing an earbud while clocking into work.
“We call on Disney to investigate these issues that may have occurred on your property operating under your name,” reads a letter from county commissioner Mike Scott, representing District 6 of Orange County. “We know with your high level of excellence that sets the standard for Central Florida, we are right to have a high level of expectation for what happens on your property,” Commissioner Scott’s letter continues. “We are asking that you take action on this matter, and we invite you to report back publicly on what you’re doing to hold Patina Group accountable.”
Similar letters addressed to Disney’s government relations team were also sent by county commissioners Nicole Wilson, Maribel Gomez Cordero and Dr. Kelly Martinez Semrad, according to copies of the letters reviewed by Orlando Weekly. A group of Democratic state lawmakers last September similarly wrote to Disney, also calling for an investigation into the Patina Group.
“We are sure you would agree that subcontracting should not be an excuse for lower standards or inadequate treatment of workers,” a letter reviewed by Orlando Weekly reads, signed by Florida House Reps. Anna Eskamani, Rita Harris, Johanna Lopez, Jose Alvarez, Angie Nixon, and state Sens. Carlos Guillermo Smith and LaVon Bracy Davis.
“The State of Florida works with many subcontractors,” the lawmakers’ letter notes. “If any of these situations were created by a subcontractor of ours, we would treat it with serious urgency.”
“We are sure you would agree that subcontracting should not be an excuse for lower standards or inadequate treatment of workers”
The Patina Group, a subsidiary of the multinational corporation Delaware North, operates Morimoto Asia, Maria & Enzo’s, The Edison, Enzo’s Hideaway and Pizza Ponte at Disney Springs — a shopping and entertainment complex near the parks — plus four restaurants at Disney World’s EPCOT. The Walt Disney Company, a multibillion-dollar company with a global presence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on whether they intend to pursue an investigation into the allegations.
The Patina Group, meanwhile, previously told Orlando Weekly through a company spokesperson that Patina “is in full compliance with the Disney Supply Chain Code of Conduct” and said that they “are disappointed” over “untruthful allegations” made against them.
These allegations have not only been made by Patina Group workers themselves. The regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that enforces workers’ rights under federal law, issued a complaint reviewed by Orlando Weekly last April, alleging that the Patina Group broke federal labor law by “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees” at Disney World restaurants in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. The complaint came in response to worker allegations filed with the NLRB.
The Patina Group’s spokesperson told Orlando Weekly last fall, “We are confident these claims will be disproved through the appropriate process at the National Labor Relations Board.” According to the union, the complaint issued by the NLRB regional director is headed to a trial. The first hearing for the case occurred last August.
The latest escalation
Getting elected officials to apply pressure on Disney is just the latest escalation that workers have pursued to get the Patina Group to address workplace complaints.
Restaurant and bar workers themselves delivered their own request to Disney’s corporate office with representatives of labor union Unite Here Local 737 last summer, alleging the Patina Group had violated several provisions of Disney’s supply chain code of conduct for suppliers. Their code defines “suppliers” as “any person or entity” that produces products or services licensed, authorized, or otherwise acquired by Disney.
One of the Disney Springs workers who delivered this initial request for an investigation was Julissa “Julie” Ruiz, a young woman who was fired from one of the Patina Group’s restaurants in 2024 after she publicly spoke out about sexual harassment she experienced on the job.
Disney’s code of conduct for companies it works with prohibits harassment of employees and adds that “Special attention should be paid to vulnerable groups, including, but not limited to, women, younger workers, migrants and Indigenous peoples.”
Ruiz, a young Latina, formerly worked as a server at the Patina Group’s pizzeria Pizza Ponte. She had spoken up publicly to members of the press about struggling to afford housing in Central Florida while working at Pizza Ponte and was leading an effort to organize a union on the Disney Springs property.
Unlike Disney World employees, who have been unionized for decades, workers at restaurants owned by the Patina Group at Disney Springs are non-union and lack access to benefits enjoyed by their unionized counterparts, such as paid time off, health insurance through their employer and higher wages that match those of Disney World employees who are working on the same property, perhaps just yards away, at the Disney-operated restaurant next door.
“We all deserve higher standards at work,” Ruiz said at a press conference early Thursday afternoon, organized by Unite Here Local 737 and county commissioner Nicole Wilson. “I have told my story over and over,” Ruiz said, and, as frustrated as it makes her feel every time, “I will not allow this company to forget about me and my story.”
Although Ruiz was fired from Pizza Ponte in the fall of 2024, she has remained a key public figure in the Patina Group workers’ effort to organize a union on the Disney Springs property. She was joined at the press conference on Thursday by several of her former coworkers, including restaurant workers at Maria & Enzo’s and The Edison.
“We have to provide the Disney experience in so many ways,” said Kristen Mercer, a 31-year-old server at Maria & Enzo’s, who relies on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace for health insurance, since she doesn’t get that through the Patina Group. After the expiration of federal subsidies last year, however, she says she’s been priced out of the ACA marketplace.
She said she’s afraid of what the next year will look like for her, living with a chronic illness. “In just the past two years, my monthly premium has increased from $400 to $500 — now at $600, I’m priced out,” she admitted. The fight for health insurance through her employer, has been a driving factor in her motivation to organize a union.
“We’re expected to make the magic, but we don’t get that same Disney experience for ourselves,” she said. “And that’s why we’re here.”
Representatives of Congressman Darren Soto — who honored Ruiz in the U.S. Congressional Record during Pride Month last year — and county commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero were also present at the press conference Thursday.
“My primary role as a county commissioner is to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the residents of Orange County,” said Commissioner Wilson Thursday. “So when I met with these constituents — as I often do with people who have general concerns — I was astounded to hear what they were encountering in their workplace.”
She sent her own letter to Disney requesting an investigation into the Patina Group last fall, but confirmed to Orlando Weekly that she hasn’t received a response. “I believe that everyone deserves to be treated fairly under the law in the workplace,” she affirmed.
Wes Hodge, chief of staff for Commissioner Semrad, confirmed to Orlando Weekly that although Semrad had also initially sent a letter to Disney requesting an investigation last fall, her office was also still awaiting any kind of response.
The company, admittedly, has had its hands full with a recent string of suicides at Disney World Resorts in Orlando, a $233 million settlement to address wage complaints by employees at Disneyland in California, scrutiny over the exploitation of low-wage prison labor by another one of its subcontractors, and a strike threat by unionized Patina Group workers at Disney’s Epcot last year that Disney brought an independent arbitrator in to shut down.
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