Disney World to Do Employee Background Checks

Walt Disney World has quietly started requiring background checks on all new hires, following the rape of a tourist and the publication of a book critical of the theme park’s security practices.

The resort already ran checks on new employees who handled money, worked directly with children, were involved with security or disclosed they were convicted of a crime, spokesman Bill Warren said.

It decided in August to expand the checks to all new hires, just like Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

The policy took effect a month after the July rape of a 16-year-old tourist from Denver, allegedly by a 17-year-old Disney cook, on the resort’s property. The suspect, Daneal Irons, has a juvenile record that includes charges of burglary, aggravated assault and theft.

The new policy also came as “Disney: The Mouse Betrayed” went to press. The book by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer criticized the theme park resort for failing to perform security checks that could prevent the hiring of pedophiles.

Schweizer said Friday that the change in policy is “more than coincidence.”

Warren said that the book had nothing to do with it and that the rape was just one of several factors.

“That’s something we’ve kicked around for a long time,” he said.

Walt Disney World, with more than 50,000 employees, hires several hundred new workers a month.