Twitter must inform fired workers about severance lawsuit, US judge rules

Twitter employees terminated in Elon Musk’s mass lay-offs must be told about a lawsuit on their behalf against the company before they are asked to give up their legal rights in order to qualify for severance pay, a judge ruled.

Twitter wants employees who accept a severance package that includes a month of base pay to sign a waiver agreeing not to join lawsuits against the company. The agreement doesn’t mention the existence of a class-action suit filed just before thousands of people were fired in early November following Elon Musk’s takeover.

A company’s communications with workers about severance packages “should not be rendered misleading by omitting material information about a pending lawsuit”, US district judge James Donato said, adding that proper notice will promote the fair and efficient administration of the litigation.

Filed by a handful of workers, the suit alleges Twitter failed to give the required 60 to 90 days’ notice about the mass lay-offs and is shortchanging the former employees on severance pay. Twitter faces separate claims that it retaliated against an employee who tried to organise a strike and that its lay-offs disproportionately targeted women workers.

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“Today’s decision is a victory for Twitter employees who for weeks have been abused by Elon Musk,” Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the workers, said in an emailed statement. “The court’s ruling that Twitter must notify employees of our legal action is a basic but important step that will provide employees with the opportunity to more fully understand their rights instead of just signing them away, and potentially signing away money they are owed, under pressure from Mr Musk.”

She argues in the Twitter suit that former workers are entitled to at least two months’ base pay, and maybe more depending on the number of years they worked there.

Under the previous agreement they’re also supposed to get three months of equity vesting, healthcare contributions and bonuses, she said.

Ms Liss-Riordan previously tangled with Mr Musk over lay-offs at Tesla, his electric-car company.

Meanwhile Mr Musk, who lost his number one spot on Bloomberg’s ranking of the world’s richest people this week, unloaded Tesla stock for the fourth time this year.

Tesla’s chief executive sold almost 22 million shares of the electric-car maker for $3.58 billion (€3.4 billion), according to a filing. Tesla shares have plunged 55 per cent this year as investors grow increasingly concerned about Mr Musk’s purchase of Twitter, adding to worries about rising interest rates, which make cars more expensive for consumers, and demand issues in China, Tesla’s largest market after the US.

– Bloomberg