A class action lawsuit was filed on Thursday by current and former employees of the micro-messaging service. The suit claims that the social media company is in violation of labor laws. The filing states that one of the people didn't get any pay for their work.
The California Employment Development Department was supposed to be notified according to state law, but it was not given 60 days' notice. A lawyer who has sued on behalf of Musk's former workers in the past is organizing the suit in order to protect them from the layoffs.
The lawsuit against Musk's company was moved out of the public eye and into private mediation. Back in June, there was a round of layoffs at the company.
The acquisition of the formerly publicly-traded company by Musk took place last week. The finalization of that sale made it the property of the world's wealthiest person. The process of liquidating the jobs of roughly 3,700 human people, or half the company, was begun on Thursday by Musk.
Jack Dorsey wants to take the blame for the layoffs instead of Musk. I grew the company size too quickly and that's why I'm responsible for why everyone is in this situation. I'm sorry for that.
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Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lawyer organizing the suit, told a local ABC News affiliate in Boston that the action was pre-emptive. The layoffs were done without warning. Musk has a history of thumbing his nose at federal labor laws, according to her.
She said that employees were asked to sign away their rights for a week or two of severance pay even though the WARN Act requires 60 days.
Musk is making an effort to comply with the law, according to a report. She said she was happy that Musk learned something from the lawsuit.
According to Musk, everyone who left this round of layoffs received an offer of 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than the law requires. It is not clear what type of agreements laid off employees have to sign in order to receive Musk's generosity.
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According to The Washington Post, employees are being forced to pay in lieu of notice in order to stay within the bounds of the law. This plan pays them through 60 or 90 days and keeps them employed even though they are no longer working. According to The Labor Department, this is still a violation of the law.
It's unusual to cite the layoffs in the suit against Musk's company, according to a New York lawyer. Marris says that the request in the suit for a court order requiring Twitter to advise laid off employees of their rights under the WARN Act is unusual.
Marris told Law & Crime that there are clauses in severance agreements that give employees time to consider the agreement.
This round of layoffs seems to be in line with Musk's strategy of putting people out of work and keeping legal matters out of the courts. He did it at the company. If it works again, let us know.
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