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Twitter: On Wednesday, a group of former Twitter workers who are suing Elon Musk won a preliminary victory.
A judge ordered the social media company to inform the sacked employees of the legal action.
This ensures that employees are informed before being asked to sign a severance agreement that incorporates a release of legal claims.
The lawsuit
Twitter fired thousands of workers last month after Elon Musk took over the business.
After buying the company, several former employees complained that Musk had breached his promise to allow remote work and provide dependable severance pay.
In this instance, class-action status is sought.
Furthermore, it asserts that the company failed to provide at least one recently laid-off employee enough notice.
The notice is required by both federal and Californian law.
Neither was the employee paid in lieu of the notice.
The order
The judge, Hames Donato, granted the motion on Wednesday.
The California district court judge hearing the case decided that Twitter’s conversations with employees “should not be rendered misleading by omitting material information about a pending lawsuit.”
The order indicates that the court is mindful of the employee’s perspective.
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The layoffs
Starting in November, Twitter and Elon Musk fired thousands of employees.
The selection was made as a means of reducing expenses.
The night before the layoffs, workers started posting that they couldn’t access their work email accounts.
Some individuals announced their departure from the company using salute and blue hearts emojis.
By morning, numerous Twitter departments made their termination announcements.
The following departments are among those impacted:
- Ethical AI
- Marketing and communication
- Search
- Public policy
- Wellness
The curation team, which promotes trustworthy content on Twitter concerning topics like elections, also lost several of its members.
Someone asserted that they had been remotely logged out of Slack and removed.
Numerous people revealed that they had access problems hours before Musk fired them.
Additionally, they received emails that contained no information regarding the layoff.
However, some workers who were let go felt relieved.
Explanation
Early in November, Elon Musk made an appearance at an investor conference, taking part in a friendly interview while Twitter employees announced their layoffs.
Musk just nodded in response to the interviewer’s assertion that he sacked half the staff.
The Tesla CEO then defended the firings by asserting that the company, like other social networking sites, had experienced “revenue challenges” before his acquisition.
Advertisers were rethinking their spending as recessionary fears remained throughout the year.
The cuts
Before the Musk takeover, Twitter employed over 7,500 people; as a result, 3,700 individuals were let go.
Twitter made the changes to bolster its financial position after taking on a sizable amount of debt to pay for the $44 billion acquisition.
The email informing staff of their status is as follows:
“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.”
To protect the security of Twitter’s employees and systems, it also declared that all credential access would be suspended and the offices would be temporarily closed.
Read also: TikTok study shown to introduce harmful content to teens
Other lawsuits
Shannon Liss-Riordan is filing a lawsuit against Twitter on behalf of former employees.
She stated that the order is a simple but crucial step that allows employees a chance to learn their rights instead of denying them money to which they are legally entitled as a result of Musk’s coercion.
This is one of four cases that Liss-Riordan filed on behalf of the former employees.
Additional cases include claims of claimed discrimination based on gender and disability.
Another is on behalf of Twitter-employed contractors who were fired.
The former employees are currently suing the corporation for alleged violations of the federal and California WARN Acts, which provide for early notification of mass layoffs and unspecified monetary damages.
In a press conference last week, engineer Emmanuel Cornet, one of those suspended from Twitter, said:
“It seems like the layoffs have been done in a way that’s really clumsy and inhumane and potentially illegal… and this is the aftermath.”
References:
Former employees suing Twitter over layoffs score an early victory
