Twitter faced another lawsuit that accuses the company of illegally laying off contract workers without notice after Twitter Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk bought the company last November. This is the sixth case accusing the company of violating laws.
(Photo : SAMANTHA LAUREY/AFP via Getty Images)
The Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco, California on November 4, 2022. - Half of Twitter's 7,500 employees were laid off on November 4, an internal document showed, as new owner Elon Musk began a major revamp of the troubled company.
Facing Accusation
Affected contract workers sued Twitter for allegedly violating laws of illegally laying off workers last November without notice. As per Reuters' report, this is another action, filed in San Francisco federal court, which came from the mass layoffs that Musk conducted after buying the company.
The class action lawsuit claims that the company laid off several workers in November who were employed by staffing company TEKsystems Inc. They were not informed nor given a 60-day advanced notice required by the United States and California law.
Plaintiffs Representative Shannon-Liss Riordan stated, "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."
Liss-Riordan also filed complaints in private arbitration to defend 1,700 former employees and contractors from Twitter who signed agreements to arbitrate legal disputes. Meanwhile, in this recent case, contractual workers were not able to sign arbitration agreements.
She represented several filed complaints against Twitter with a US labor board that claims that they were fired for criticizing the company, attempting to organize a strike, and other conduct that is protected by federal labor law.
Aside from this, five other cases are also pending in the same court in San Francisco for violating other laws, including targeting female workers and discriminating against employees with their disabilities.
Financial Post reported that contract workers argue that they need to be considered as a "contingent workforce" with having the same duties as employees, enough reason for them to not be included in the prior layoffs without notice. The lawsuit noted that employees were no temporary workers.
Conducting Layoffs
In November, Twitter employees received an internal memo that the company's new management team led by Elon Musk regarding the mass layoffs. Since then, the company reduced the workforce by 75%.
Employees received notifications through their work emails once they are chosen to leave the company. As per the memorandum, "We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter."
As a result, Twitter laid off approximately 3,700 employees, which is 50% of its total workforce that operates the company and the social media platform. This comes after Musk acquired the social media platform for $44 billion, and hundreds of employees resigned before and after his announcement of the acquisition.
