Twitter sued over short-notice layoffs as Elon Musk's takeover rocks company

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: NBC News

A lawsuit was filed against Twitter on Thursday alleging the social media company now headed by Elon Musk violated federal and state law that requires 60 days' notice of mass layoffs, according to a court document.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco names five current or former workers as plaintiffs, one of whom was told he was terminated effective Tuesday, according to the lawsuit. It names Twitter as the defendant.

Three other staff members have been locked out of their Twitter accounts as of Thursday with no formal notice of a layoff, which they interpret to mean they will lose their jobs, according to the lawsuit.

"Twitter is now engaged in conducting mass layoffs without providing the required notice under the federal WARN Act," the lawsuit says, referring to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act that requires 60-day notice for certain plant closings or mass layoffs.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/twitter-sued-layoffs-days-elon-musk-purchase-rcna55619?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[GreenWave]

1. If you're so rich...

... how come you are not smart?

[intheflow]

12. He's rich because of his father.

His father was rich from exploiting Black labor and African diamond resources. Neither of these things require extraordinary brains.

[melm00se]

31. The problem is

that is he IS smart (not genius but above average smart).

But, he suffers from "not smart enough" syndrome.

This intellectual defect blinds him to the laws that he allegedly violated (the WARN Act). This syndrome also ensured that he did not consult with the people whose job it is to KNOW about laws like this.

[NCjack]

2. The Board of Directors should have stood up and stopped this illegal mass firing.

Oh, wait! He fired the entire Board. Dummy is by himself the Board of Directors.

His investors must be having post-buy regrets.

[FBaggins]

4. There's nothing illegal about a mass firing

There isn’t much indication that the lawsuit can accomplish much.

It’s a misunderstanding of the law to think that the 60-day WARN notice requirements means that if you don’t get the notice you can’t be fired.

[NCjack]

7. A good board concerned about the corporation's image would have

softened the impact.

[FBaggins]

8. Assumes facts not in evidence

We haven’t even seen what the “impact” is. The lawsuit is one person who was laid off and four who assume that they will be.

If the actual layoff includes an attractive severance and 60 days of “in lieu of” income… the lawsuit was a waste of time

[TomDaisy]

21. go read the notice twitter sent out to employees

[FBaggins]

26. Where?

I did notice that the attorney who filed the lawsuit has already admitted that the notice includes pay into January - which gets rid of the 60-day notice requirement.

[TomDaisy]

23. Musk fired the executives "For cause" (falsely) so he could get around paying them severance

he is a snake

Nothing is more disgusting than a greedy rich person.

[Happy Hoosier]

9. Errr... 60 days of a paycheck.....

.... would make finding another job rather less likely to cause finanacial hardship. I mean... that much is obvious, right?

[FBaggins]

11. Yes. That's obvious

But there’s no indication that they won’t get that.

In fact - it’s likely that they’ll be paid for 60 days without having to actually work. Which makes finding another job even easier.

[TomDaisy]

22. twitter's notice to employees said nothing about that

[pnwmom]

24. It won't stop Musk from firing them. But it will make him liable to paying them damages

of up to 60 days of pay and benefits. He won't save himself money by ignoring the WARN notice law.

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/Layoff/pdfs/WorkerWARN2003.pdf

[FBaggins]

27. The lawsuit wouldn't do that

If the firing notice says (as is now reported) that they're getting paid for those 60 days... then there is no violation.

The attorney filing the suit is already backtracking

[pnwmom]

28. The WARN notice itself should have stated that. The reports I'm seeing

are that people got an email.

[FBaggins]

29. There isn't any indication that they didn't

The lawsuit was filed before people actually received an official notification.

Everyone was told that notice was coming (both positive and negative) and a few jumped the gun when their system access was cut off.

[Demsrule86]

37. It is illegal in California and other states...even Ohio. GM lost in court after closing Lordstown

GM...so that is not true. Musk is also being sued in Nevada for Tesla...there are a number of lawsuits that are ongoing. Musk is a rat, a poor businessman and makes shitty cars with multiple defects. He had the market cornered...now GM and Ford are going to eat his lunch. Good, we don't want any money going to slimeball righties.

[FBaggins]

40. Nope

Not when the company pays out the 60 days "in lieu of" notice.

In fact - it appears that they're paying out 90 days in this case.

GM lost in court after closing Lordstown

I don't think so. I believe that case was settled.

Musk is also being sued in Nevada for Tesla

I believe that's no longer in court either. I think they were forced into arbitration.

[exboyfil]

6. You would have thought he would have hired a labor lawyer

prior to proceeding with mass firings. I knew this would be a problem, and I am definitely not a lawyer.

[NCjack]

14. I have an acquaintance who is the labor attorney for a mega-company

that is reducing its workforce to match its production demand.

She has individually interviewed each of over a thousand employees, offering severance, insurance continuation, retraining, etc. She meets with the Board monthly to give a progress report.

After this over, she will get a long vacation and counseling to restore her mental health.

[exboyfil]

16. Tough job

I went through the gradual layoff routine that lasted two years once. The guy that hired me did all the firing. It really broke him. He eventually lost his job as well.

[C Moon]

30. Ug...that sounds like a terrible job.

[aggiesal]

3. Doesn't surprise me, in California ...

if you're laying off 10% or more, the company either gives you 60 days notice or pays you 60 days of salary.

I've seen companies get around this by laying off smaller percentages every other week.

[SpankMe]

5. Musk has a plan - (Repeating my post from another thread)

Here's my hypothesis:

1. Musk will layoff half of the company in violation of the WARN act, which requires a 60-day notice if the layoffs exceed a certain number. He's doing this on purpose in order to draw an enforcement action from the government.

2. California and the feds will attempt enforcement, such as suing or implementing other penalties or remedial actions.

3. Elon will cry about "oppression" from California and the hostile business environment here.

4. He will then use this as an excuse to move Twitter HQ from San Francisco to Texas.

5. This will cause many, if not most, of the remaining employees to quit since they won't want to move. (San Fran vs. Texas is quite a culture shock for SF Bay Area types.)

6. He'll then run Twitter as a shoestring operation from a warehouse adjacent to his Tesla Gigafactory near Austin.

7. Owing to the hate speech that will proliferate on the platform, Twitter will shrink and end up just like MySpace.

Don't quit Twitter, I say. Stay on there and flag and report as much right wing hate speech as you can find. Overwhelm their reporting system. Take screen caps of hate speech next to ads and send these images to the advertiser.

[exboyfil]

13. You have a point

I don't know what additional costs would be associated with violating the WARN act over what it would have cost to pay the 60 days of salary anyway. If he doesn't fight it and just cuts a bunch of 60 day checks it might not be that expensive, but it gives him a talking point by doing it this way.

It might turn out that WARN doesn't help for things like bonuses or stock options that might have vested during the 60 days. For the at will employees without contracts, they are going to take it in the shorts (join the club I have been through that twice in my career and had near misses five other times).

[bronxiteforever]

18. I wonder if he could move it to Saudi Arabia and skip US law

[pnwmom]

25. It's a Federal law, so the Federal govt would enforce it, not CA. n/t

[Bengus81]

32. The downfall will be from advertisers jumping ship like AUDI did today

People quitting here and there will make no diff to Mush. Also...if that idiot thinks he's going to drag $10-$20 per month off of Trump humpers just to be able to get their wittle blue checkmark and post he's NUTS. It might work for a few months and then they'll bail.

[Demsrule86]

38. He moved Tesla to Texas and is facing lawsuits for that...who gives a shit?

[bucolic_frolic]

10. LOL

Increasing bottom line by axing personnel because there are no other new revenue streams to harvest ... but this plunges morale, all remaining will be overworked and seeking new jobs ... the public will notice and leave. This company could be 30% smaller by April. That's my guess.

[groundloop]

15. hopefully it's 100% smaller well before the 2024 election

[twodogsbarking]

17. I can fire people on Fifth Avenue and it won't affect the number of Tweeters.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. . Look Ma I'm suing Twitter.

Link to tweet

[yardwork]

20. Running a company is hard work.

[Calista241]

33. Shouldn't matter if they're really being paid through February 2, 2023.

They're even calling February 2nd the 'separation date', and workers aren't really being fired, they're being put on 'non-working notice' status.

The pertinent line of the email to fired employees reads: "Today is your last working day at the company, however, you will remain employed by Twitter and will receive compensation and benefits through your separation date of February 2, 2023."

You know they're being fired, I know they're being fired, everyone knows they're all being fired; but paying them through the February 2nd date absolves him of the Warn Act violation.

Most employees will accept the terms of the severance because they need their salaries for the next 3 months. Companies will scale back a lot of their hiring during the holidays in December, and getting a new tech job can take several months. I would imagine most of these people have been looking for a gig, or at least have an updated resume.

Programmers and Engineers are always in high demand, and shouldn't have a hard time getting work. Moderators and other administrative roles may have a little more difficult time finding a new place to land.

[Demsrule86]

39. There is no severence. He is terminating for cause. And let me tell you, we are in mediation with

a company that fired my husband while he was on company disability...eliminated his job and hired for it the next week...they have already been charged in this matter and it is no joke. I live in Ohio.

[SlimJimmy]

34. From what I've been hearing,

California has a 30 day period where the employees must be notified in advance of firings/layoffs if the company has 75 or more employees. It's hard to believe that his legal team didn't advise him of this.

But according to the article, it's a 60 day period.

[The Jungle 1]

35. Is it a social media site if no one shows up?

[dembotoz]

36. at least in wisconsin i was under the impression the law was more location oriented

fire a percentage at a specific location.
I wonder ....and i do not know.....if the use of a remote workforce is a work around for the law.
A location would mean a minimum of x employees.
Fire a thousand work at home folks and they do not count against the location because they do not work at the location.

Find a company benefit and a corporation will find a way to screw you with it