Twitter Inc., Faces Various Lawsuits from 100 Former Employees Fired by Elon Musk

Shannon LIss-Riordan, a lawyer for Twitter workers. (photo: Twitter @MassNurses)

JAKARTA - Twitter Inc on Tuesday, December 20 was sued by 100 of its former employees for various legal violations stemming from Elon Musk's takeover of the company. Their accusations included targeting women for layoffs and failing to pay severance pay as promised.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, attorney for workers, said she has filed 100 arbitration suits against Twitter and made similar claims for four class action lawsuits pending in California federal court.

"All workers signed an agreement to submit legal disputes against the company in arbitration rather than court," Liss-Riordan told Reuters. This means they will likely be barred from participating in a class action.

Former Twitter employees hold press conference ahead of hearing https://t.co/rb7U5Xaonc

— Shannon Liss-Riordan (@SLissRiordan) December 8, 2022

Twitter laid off about 3.700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting move by Musk, who has acquired the social media platform, and hundreds of other employees have since resigned.

The arbitration suit accuses Twitter of sex discrimination, breach of contract, and illegally terminating employees on medical or parental leave. Twitter itself did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media.

Liss-Riordan said her law firm has spoken to hundreds of other former Twitter employees and intends to bring more lawsuits in arbitration on their behalf.

"Twitter's behavior since Musk took over was appalling, and we will pursue every avenue to protect workers and extract from Twitter the compensation that is due to them," Liss-Riordan said.

The pending class action lawsuit claims Twitter terminated employees and contractors without the legally required 60 days' notice, laid off women disproportionately, and coerced workers with disabilities by refusing to allow remote work.

Twitter also faces at least three complaints filed with the US labor council claiming workers were fired for criticizing the company, trying to organize strikes, and other behavior protected by federal labor law.

Twitter itself has denied that they broke a law requiring further notice and has not responded to other claims.