Hundreds of former Twitter employees sue Elon Musk and Twitter for ‘illegal’ terminations, not paying severance- Technology News, Firstpost

Mehul Reuben DasDec 21, 2022 15:06:48 IST

Elon Musk-led Twitter has been sued by over 100 former Twitter employees on the grounds of legal violations that stemmed from the arbitrary and illegal terminations of thousands of employees. Previously, the social media platform was sued in a class action lawsuit for gender discrimination, based on the allegation that women were disproportionately targeted during the layoffs.

The new set of litigations doubles down on the allegation that Twitter disproportionately targeted women, people with disabilities and staff who were on paternity or maternity leaves. The new litigations also allege that Twitter has failed to pay the severance that it was bound to, and had promised.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the workers, said she had filed 100 demands for arbitration against Twitter that make similar claims to four class action lawsuits pending in California federal court.

The workers all signed agreements to bring legal disputes against the company in arbitration rather than a court, Liss-Riordan said, which means they will likely be barred from participating in the class actions.

Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, who paid $44 billion to acquire the social media platform, and hundreds more subsequently resigned.

The arbitration demands accuse Twitter of sex discrimination, breach of contract, and illegally terminating employees who were on medical or parental leave.

Liss-Riordan said her firm has spoken with hundreds of other ex-Twitter employees and intends to file more legal claims in arbitration on their behalf.

“The conduct of Twitter since Musk took over is incredibly egregious, and we will pursue every avenue to protect workers and extract from Twitter the compensation that is due to them,” she said.

The pending class action lawsuits claim Twitter laid off employees and contractors without the 60 days notice required by law, disproportionately laid off women, and forced out workers with disabilities by refusing to allow remote work.

Twitter is also facing at least three complaints filed with a US labour board claiming workers were fired for criticizing the company, attempting to organize a strike and other conduct protected by federal labour law.

The company has denied violating the law requiring advanced notice and has not yet responded to the other claims.