Twitter Inc. shall Inform departing employees that there is an active lawsuit against the social media company related to severance pay and termination benefits, as ruled by a federal judge.
Twitter requires employees who accept a severance package that includes a month’s base salary to sign a waiver agreeing not to join lawsuits against the company. The agreement does not mention a lawsuit that was filed before hundreds of people were laid off in early November after Elon Musk’s inauguration.
“Twitter was ordered to give notice of suspension in this case before requiring the employee to waive his legal claims,” US District Judge James Donato said in an order on Wednesday.
Filed by a handful of workers, the suit alleges that Twitter failed to provide 60 to 90 days notice for mass layoffs and defrauded former employees of severance pay. Twitter faces separate allegations that it retaliated against an employee who tried to stage a strike, and that its firings disproportionately targeted female workers.
Shannon Lees-Riordan, the employment lawyer who previously tangled with Musk over layoffs at Tesla Inc. Inc., his electric car company, argues in the lawsuit on Twitter that former workers are entitled to at least two months of base salary, and possibly more depending on how many years you worked there.
Under the previous agreement, he said, they are also supposed to receive three months of stock ownership, healthcare contributions and bonuses.
Twitter has argued that its former employees are bound by contractual agreements that require them to resolve any disputes with the company in closed arbitration rather than in open court. A hearing on the company’s request to force the workers to submit to arbitration is set for January.
After Musk bought the social media company for $44 billion, he laid off half of the workforce, told some essential employees to return, reversed his expansionary work-from-home policy, and required workers to sign a pledge to stay “very tough” on Twitter or quit.
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