The lawsuit alleges that the workers were not adequately notified of their dismissal in accordance with both the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and the California WARN Act. These laws require companies to give employees at least 60 days notice before a mass layoff occurs.
“Look mom, I’m suing Twitter”
The lawsuit was filed in an effort to “make sure employees are aware that they shouldn’t be giving away their rights and that they have a way to pursue their rights,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney who filed the complaint Thursday night. submitted, told Bloomberg.
The lawsuit was filed in US court in San Francisco and names five employees as plaintiffs. The lawsuit notes that one of the named plaintiffs had already been fired at the time of filing, while three others had been barred from corporate accounts — a move believed to indicate they will be formally terminated soon.
One of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, Manu Cornet, tweeted their participation: “I had no intention of doing such a thing at first… But… Look ma’am, I’m suing Twitter.”
Twitter informed employees in an unsigned memo on Friday, Nov. 4, that “in an effort to” [the company] on a healthy path,” it will “reduce our global workforce.” Musk is expected to cut about half of Twitter’s estimated 7,500 employees as part of an effort to lower the company’s costs.
This isn’t the first time Musk’s management style has led to class action lawsuits. Two former Tesla employees sued the company in June for violating the same WARN law.
At the time of publication, Twitter had not yet responded to a request for comment.
You can read the lawsuit in full below: