Twitter is facing a class action lawsuit today as a result of its continuing mass layoffs, which are expected to slash its staff in half. According to Bloomberg, workers filed a class action complaint against Twitter in federal court in San Francisco, claiming that the company’s conduct violated the US Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Companies with 100 or more workers are obligated by law to alert them about mass layoffs 60 days in advance.
The New York Times previously reported that Twitter would begin layoffs on Friday, with almost half of the company’s employees losing their jobs. Twitter said in an email obtained by The Washington Post that the layoffs are “sadly essential to guarantee the company’s success going ahead.” Employees were also urged to remain at home today and wait for an email. Their employment is secure if they acquire one on their Twitter account. However, if they get the email on their personal account, it signifies they’ve been fired. Some workers are saying on social media that they have already been locked out of their work emails and deleted from the business Slack.
The plaintiffs are requesting that the court issue an order compelling Twitter to comply with the WARN Act. They also want the court to make it illegal for the firm to ask workers to sign away their right to sue. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, said that the case was filed “in an effort to ensure that workers are aware that they should not sign away their rights and that they have an option for pursuing their rights.”
Liss-Riordan was also the lawyer who handled Tesla’s case in June over layoffs that reduced 10% of the automaker’s staff. Similarly, to this lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that Tesla violated the WARN Act at the time. Elon Musk, who took over Twitter a week ago, described the case as “trivial” in an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. The court also backed with the firm, ruling that workers should instead engage with Tesla in a closed-door arbitration.
