Dismissed Twitter employees wanted to go to court but can’t
2023.01.14 14:01
Dismissed Twitter employees wanted to go to court but can’t
Budrigannews.com – A ruling has been obtained by Twitter Inc., allowing the social media company to require a number of laid-off employees suing for termination to pursue their claims through individual arbitration rather than a class-action lawsuit.
Friday, U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled that private arbitration must be used by five former Twitter employees pursuing a proposed class action alleging that the company failed to adequately notify them before firing them following its acquisition by Elon Musk.
Using the agreements they had signed with the company, Donato granted Twitter’s request to force the five former employees to pursue their claims on their own.
However, he noted that three additional former Twitter employees who claimed they had opted out of the company’s arbitration agreement joined the lawsuit after it was first filed, and the San Francisco judge left for another day “as warranted by developments in the case.”
Shannon Liss-Riordan, the plaintiffs’ attorney, stated on Monday that she would likely file hundreds more demands for arbitration on behalf of former Twitter employees.
All of those employees assert that they have not received the entire severance package that Twitter promised them before Musk took over. Discrimination based on disability or sex has also been claimed by some.
In response to a proposed class action alleging that Twitter had failed to provide sufficient notice before terminating its employees, Donato had ruled last year that Twitter had to inform the thousands of employees who had been laid off following its acquisition by Musk.
Twitter must give employees “a succinct and plainly worded notice” before asking them to sign severance agreements that waive their right to sue the company, according to the judge.
Musk cut costs by laying off roughly 3,700 employees at Twitter at the beginning of November, and hundreds more left after that.
In addition, in December of last year, dozens of former employees accused Twitter of committing a number of legal violations as a result of Musk’s acquisition of the business. These violations included discriminating against women when it came to layoffs and failing to pay promised severance pay.
Additionally, at least three complaints have been filed against Twitter with a U.S. labor board alleging that employees were fired for criticizing the business, attempting to organize a strike, and other violations of federal labor law.
