Elon Musk’s Twitter has been accused of illegally laying off contract workers without notice, in the sixth lawsuit the social media company is facing for allegedly violating labour laws at San Francisco federal court. The San Francisco federal court’s move stems from a series of cost-cutting methods brought about by Twitter soon after billionaire business magnate Elon Musk took over as company’s new owner.
The proposed class action claims that Twitter in November last year laid off a number of workers employed by staffing firm TEKsystems Inc. without the 60 days of advance notice required by the United States. and California law.
Other cases pending against Twitter include the lawsuits accusing the social media company of targeting female workers for layoffs and discriminating against employees with disabilities. Twitter has denied wrongdoing.
Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees translating into half its workforce in November 2023 in a cost-cutting measure by Elon Musk.
Musk paid $44 billion to acquire the social media platform. After Musk’s takeover of the platform, hundreds more employees subsequently resigned.
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Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents the plaintiffs in all of the cases, told Reuters in an email: “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 said she also has filed complaints in private arbitration on behalf of more than 1,700 former Twitter employees and contractors who signed agreements to arbitrate legal disputes. She claimed that workers employed by TEKsystems did not sign arbitration agreements.
Liss-Riordan also represents workers who have filed complaints against Twitter with a U.S. labour board claiming they were fired for criticising the company, attempting to organise a strike, and other conduct protected by the US federal labour law.
(With inputs from agencies)
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