Twitter is facing a lawsuit over new CEO Elon Musk's intention to terminate around 3,700 employees at the said social media platform. Employees claimed the company is now taking these actions without providing enough notice, which is illegal under federal and California law.
In a report by Bloomberg, the filing of a class-action lawsuit in the federal court in San Francisco took place on Thursday, Nov. 3.
The Email Sent to Twitter Employees
According to an email sent to Twitter workers on Thursday evening, the firm plans to start laying off employees beginning Friday at noon. Musk reportedly aims to remove half of the workers in order to save expenses after acquiring the platform for $44 last month.
The mentioned email that CNN obtained stated, "If your employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter email. If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with next steps via your personal email."
Also, in order to safeguard the safety of Twitter's workers and its systems, the company's offices will be temporarily closed, and all badge access will be disabled.
At the end of the email, an acknowledgment was made that it would be a very difficult circumstance for everyone in the workforce to go through.
Before Musk's takeover, there were around 7,500 people working at Twitter.
The Lawsuit Filed Against Elon Musk's Twitter
Large corporations are prohibited under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act, from carrying out mass layoffs unless they provide their employees with at least 60 days notice in advance.
The complaint requests that the court issue an order mandating Twitter to enforce the WARN Act and preventing the business from asking workers to sign paperwork that potentially gives away their ability to join in litigation.
Shannon Liss-Riordan is the lawyer who filed the complaint on Thursday. She said in an interview via Bloomberg, "We filed this lawsuit tonight in an attempt the make sure that employees are aware that they should not sign away their rights and that they have an avenue for pursuing their rights."
In June, Liss-Riordan sued Tesla for identical allegations after Musk's automotive company cut 10% of its workers. A federal judge in Austin ordered the employees in that case to arbitrate their complaints.
Elon Musk Previously Denied Mass Layoffs
On Oct. 31, new Twitter owner Musk refuted claims made in a weekend New York Times report that he wanted to terminate employees before Nov. 1.
ProPublica's deputy managing editor Eric Umansky tweeted that Musk was making sure to dismiss employees at Twitter before part of their year-end pay rolls out on the first day of November. Musk's only reply was, "This is false."
The billionaire did not specify what about the claim was untrue. After today's news dissemination, however, it is clear that the only inaccurate information was the exact date.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Trisha Kae Andrada
