It’s short: Twitter is facing another class action lawsuit from former employees who were fired following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. The latest case alleges that the layoffs have had a far greater impact on female workers than men, and that Musk has publicly made discriminatory remarks against women.
Musk has fired about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees since taking office. Two former workers have filed a lawsuit in San Francisco claiming the new owner’s policies have a “disproportionate impact” on women.
The lawsuit claims that 57% of female employees were fired on Nov. 4, 2022, while 47% of male employees were fired, a disparity it calls extremely statistically significant. Analysis of the trial data also indicates that 63% of women in engineering jobs were fired, compared to 48% of men in similar positions.
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Musk’s hardcore Twitter 2.0 initiative was also highlighted. Last month, Musk gave employees an ultimatum: commit to work up to 70 hours a week in the office or leave the company. This is said to have had the greatest impact on women “who more often look after children and other family members, and are therefore unable to meet such demands”.
Boston labor rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who filed the lawsuit, said she wanted to prove that “the richest man in the world is not above the law.”
Former Twitter employees hold press conference ahead of hearing https://t.co/rb7U5Xaonc
– Shannon Liss-Riordan (@SLissRiordan) December 8, 2022
“Musk and Twitter believe they will never be held accountable in court. We argue that arbitration agreements (signed by Twitter staff) are not binding. But if we have to go through arbitration one by one, we’re ready to go through it,” Liss-Riordan said.
It’s one of several lawsuits former workers have filed against Musk and Twitter since their firing. One says the mass layoffs violated the WARN Act because employees weren’t given enough notice. Another alleges that Musk removed the remote work option discriminating against workers with disabilities because Twitter failed to provide a reasonable accommodation.
It’s not just in the United States that Musk’s changes have led to lawsuits. Sinead McSweeney, global vice president for public policy at Twitter, last week won a temporary injunction in Ireland to stop Twitter from terminating its employment of her after she failed to respond to a “hardcore” email ultimatum . POPE relationships that after McSweeney’s lawyers received assurances from Twitter that his work still stood, he discovered his access pass didn’t work when he attempted to return to the Dublin office.
“I felt completely humiliated, deeply confused and reduced to tears in a public place,” McSweeney said.
