A Twitter layoff lawsuit filed against the company seeks compensatory damages, declaratory relief, attorneys’ fees, and pre and post-judgment interest. The lawsuit also seeks to restrict Twitter from obtaining releases from workers without informing them of their rights. The company has yet to respond to the lawsuit. It is unclear how many people were laid off. If it were more than one, Twitter would need to provide workers with a full 90-day notice to avoid a lawsuit.
California and federal law require that mass layoffs be announced in advance. However, the San Francisco-based company had not yet notified the state’s Employment Development Department. The agency expects Twitter to report mass layoffs to the agency. A lawsuit based in San Francisco filed in the federal court in San Francisco in August argues that Twitter must provide advance notice.
The lawsuit was filed after the company began mass layoffs that began on November 1. Emmanuel Cornet was among the first to be laid off without proper notice, in violation of California and U.S. law. Other employees that were fired in the first days were Jessica Pan, Justine De Caires, and Grae Kindel. According to the lawsuit, Twitter did not notify the California Employment Development Department about the mass layoffs until Friday morning.
The lawsuit alleges that Twitter breached state and federal laws by not providing 60-day notice of its mass layoffs. The company has also violated the laws governing mass layoffs, and a judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Musk is the current owner of the company and is attempting to cut costs by laying off about 3,700 people. While that’s a relatively small number, it represents 10% of its total workforce.
Some are saying that the first action Musk should have taken was moving the troubled company to Texas before doing these kind of layoffs. In California, with its laws, he could face serious consequence. In Texas it would be business as usual.
