Twitter faces another lawsuit for ‘illegally laying off contract workers without notice’
Twitter is facing another lawsuit which accuses the social media giant of firing contract workers illegally without notice after Elon Musk took over the company last year.
Since the multibillionaire Tesla chief’s Twitter takeover, the platform has experienced a number of glitches and outages, as well as several lawsuits alleging millions in unpaid bills, including rent for its California head office.
The current proposed class action lawsuit filed in a San Francisco federal court on Tuesday said Twitter laid off a number of contract workers without the 60 days of advance notice required by US and California law.
“While Elon Musk seems to think he’s saving the company money by avoiding these obligations, we plan to show him that not meeting his responsibilities can be a lot more costly,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told Reuters.
Just days after closing the deal to buy Twitter for $44bn last year, Mr Musk began mass layoffs at the company that saw nearly half of its almost 8,000 workers sacked.
“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4m (£3.5m) a day. Everyone exited was offered three months of severance, which is 50 per cent more than legally required,” Mr Musk had said.
“Twitter employees relied on promises made by the company that they’d be treated fairly if Elon Musk’s acquisition was successful. He reneged on their promise of severance,” Ms Liss-Riordan had tweeted earlier this month.
“Small businesses, like employees, should not have to sue to get paid what they are owed,” she tweeted on Tuesday.
Careful what you wish for @ElonMusk. You told Twitter vendors if they want to get paid, "then sue.” You got your wish. Small businesses, like employees, should not have to sue to get paid what they are owed. https://t.co/J9m1gJACIu
— Shannon Liss-Riordan (@SLissRiordan) April 4, 2023
In another lawsuit, two women who lost their jobs after Mr Musk’s takeover of the company sued Twitter alleging the mass layoffs disproportionately affected female employees.
The lawsuit filed in December last year said Twitter laid off 57 per cent of its female staff, compared to 47 per cent of men at the company.
It said the disparity greater among engineers, where 63 per cent of women were laid off compared to 48 per cent of men.
