The Central District of California court ruled Thursday that the comedian Mo’Nique’s discrimination lawsuit against Netflix can proceed, denying Netflix’s attempt to dismiss the claim.
Mo’Nique, whose legal name is Monique Hicks, filed a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit against the streaming service in November. She alleges that Netflix violated the law when she was given a “lowball” offer for a comedy special in 2018. According to Mo’Nique, she was offered just $ 500,000 for a special, while Amy Schumer was offered $ 11 million and Dave Chappelle and Chris A Rock were offered $ 20 million.
Federal District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. argued that Netflix’s failure to negotiate an opening offer with Mo’Nique, as is customary in the industry, makes its claim of discrimination viable.
“Regardless of whether the plaintiff will ultimately prevail over her claims, dismissing this case under Rule 12 (b) (6) is not appropriate,” wrote Birotte Jr. “The plaintiff’s complaint may pose a new problem, but that does not warrant dismissing it. in this stage”.
The Mo’Nique lawsuit also alleges that Netflix lacks diversity in its top leadership, citing figures that black people only represented 6% of its workforce as of 2019.
David deRubertis, a lawyer for Mo’Nique, said in a statement obtained by USA Today that Netflix said that stopping “the negotiations in good faith because he expressed concern about wage discrimination is not retaliation under the law.” But, the court did not agree.
“Today’s ruling is a major victory for Hollywood talents who, like all other workers, need protection from retaliation if they raise concerns about wage discrimination during the hiring process,” said deRubertis.
In November Netflix said it believed its offer to Mo’Nique was fair.
“We deeply care about inclusion, equity and diversity and take any allegation of discrimination very seriously,” Netflix said. “We believe that our opening offer to Mo’Nique was fair, so we will fight this demand.”
