As someone allergic to a big sect of food (hey gluten free eaters!), I know how important accurate allergy markers are on a menu. Yet, a new criminal complaint alleges that a former Disney World employee intentionally altered a menu’s allergy information to state foods didn’t contain peanuts that, in fact, did, 404 Media and Court Watch reported in collaboration.
The complaint alleges that Michael Scheuer was fired by Disney and then used still viable passwords to access a third-party created proprietary menu creation and inventory system. Over the course of his misdoings, he allegedly changed the allergy information along with adding profanity, altering prices and changing the font to Wingdings. Those wingdings were what initially tipped off employees. All menus in the database were deemed unusable and the application went offline for one to two weeks to fix the issues.
Disney changed the passwords, but then Scheuer allegedly broke into multiple of the third-party company’s FTPs, to change the allergy markers and altered QR codes from directing to a menu to a boycott Israel website. He also tried to break into Disney employees’ accounts nearly 8,000 times. Disney claims that the altered menus were identified before being shipped out to restaurants.
This case is unrelated to a doctor who died of an allergic reaction after eating at a Disney Springs restaurant last year. Notably, Disney tried to get a lawsuit filed by the doctor’s husband thrown out in August, alleging that he had agreed to settle lawsuits out of court through arbitration. The reason? He had signed a terms of service for a one-month Disney+ trial in 2019 and again when making an account to buy park tickets.
