Intellectual Property Law

Stolen Property at Disneyland?

I'm currently a CM at Disneyland Resort, recently hired in about a month ago. It shouldn't be too hard to guess which location I work in mmm. So this Monday (2/25), I showed up for work and changed into my Uniform. I put my personal clothes into my Back Pack and into a Locker outside of the Men's Changing Room. Disneyland issues us company Combination Locks to put on the Lockers, which I did. Made sure it was locked also. After I came back from my shift, I found my lock opened and the contents of the locker I had chosen empty. Someone had broke into the locker and stole my back pack. I'm a full time student so I show up to work right after I get out of school. I had at least $400 worth inside my backpack at the time. - iPod Nano ($200) - Graphing Calculator ($100) - Audio-Technica Headphones ($100) - Personal Clothes ($60) - Books for class ($60) - My Binder Full of Essays, Hand-Outs, and Notes I had taken All Semester (Can't really put a price on that) I contacted Disneyland Security, Anaheim Police Dept, Guest Services and Lost & Found. So far they all summed up theres nothing they can do for me but "investigate". My chances of seeing my belongs again feel very hopeless. The cost of me replacing all of this stuff is my entire paycheck for the whole month. All those hours I worked trying to save money before I go to college. I'm 17 and Senior in High School. The hardest part about dealing with this situation is knowing I probably will never get my binder back. : / Inside it was pretty much my entire High School portfolio: Critiqued Essays, Music Theory Notes, and Econ Stock Analysis. My Employee Manual says Disneyland Resort is not responsible for CM Theft, but I was thinking that since it was a Company Issued Lock, the Company is at fault for my loss? I understand if I had left it lying around, it was just asking to be stolen, but I had placed my back pack in the designated area with the mandatory company lock that had given me. - So should I ask them to reimburse me ?(I really don't want to spend this months entire paycheck : /...) - And If Disneyland refused to reimburse me, Should I/Can I take legal action? - Will taking legal action be worth it? I hear legal fees would be expensive... Sorry If this was a bit long to read, Thank you for your time. **No the Lock was not cut off. It was simply open hanging from the locker door.**

Public Comments

1. Was the lock cut? Or forced or what?
2. Since they made you use their lock, which was obviously faulty, and it was stolen on their property, there is a good chance they are liable. But you'll most likely lose your job fighting them on it. If they lock was not forced (as in whoever opened it obviously knew the combo) then it could very well be that the person doing the random inspection is to blame. Normally work places only issue mandatory locks when they have random inspections at that work place, meaning that the one paid to check everything would be the one to blame. Hope this helps some.
3. Disneyland is probably responsible for this since it was somewhere they say is safe for your belongings, but what are your chances of suing them and winning?
4. I'm so sorry that you had your personal belongings stolen....it happend to me several times...finally I said screw it and started using my own lock and it never happend again...sound fishy?.....I'm pretty sure that a few costuming CMs had sticky fingers and it was easy for them since they have a record of every lock's combination...sad ....Disney will never ever in a million years refund your money...ever....and suing wont help...no one wins with Disney...they have more money than any other company in the world for a reason...once again I'm sorry....that sucks so hard...
5. Yeah, don't even try suing them...they always win. It will just be a waste of precious time. Just next time use your own lock and don't take valuable things with you. It's sad that at the happiest place on earth there would be stealing, but since you just started working I wouldn't start anything you never know if they will fire you for making a complaint that they don't agree with.
6. That is such a shame. I'm very sorry you had to go through this. I highly doubt that one of the Costuming CMs took anything however. The only ones with access to the combos are the ones behind the desk, and they always work in pairs to prevent such occurace. Unless they were both in on it.. but every time I have been to the desk where they issue the locks, it has always been the same two women working, and I doubt they would still have their jobs if things came up missing very often. I had my car keyed in K-Lot a few months ago and even with the cameras, I never heard back from Security... irritating? Oh yes. I would say the only thing you can do now is rest assured that what comes around goes around, and start using the lockers at your location, and a personal lock. They don't allow you do use personal locks in the big lockers outside the dressing rooms.