
Employees at Twitter Suing for the Absence of a 60-day Layoff Notice
The great Twitter purge of '22 is supposed to start, but a group of users has stopped it by accusing Twitter of breaking the WARN Act and bringing a class action lawsuit against the company.
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CIO Applications Europe | Monday, November 07, 2022

Musk-owned companies have now faced 3 WARN Act lawsuits alleging the same.
FREMONT, CA:The great Twitter purge of '22 is supposed to start, but a group of users has stopped it by accusing Twitter of breaking the WARN Act and bringing a class action lawsuit against the company.
A lawsuit accusing Twitter (TWTR34: BVMF) of firing workers without providing the required 60-day notice for mass layoffs, which the Department of Labor defines as involving at least 50 employees who account for at least a third of a company's workforce within 30 days, was filed on behalf of five named plaintiffs and all others similarly situated in Musk's layoff sights.
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The WARN Act also states that the sale of a company that results in mass layoffs or plant closures is included; as a result, WARN applies to layoffs at Twitter regardless of the method used.
Before the 50 per cent cuts that started, Twitter started mass layoffs in which the five identified plaintiffs were caught up. The lawsuit claims that even though the five have already lost their jobs, they are highly concerned that Twitter will continue these layoffs without providing the required notice.
Not Musk's first WARNing:Earlier this year, when Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) eliminated positions at its Gigafactory in Sparks (NASDAQ: LOV), Nevada (CNSX: NVLH), and again in 2014 when SpaceX employees sued over a mass layoff at the company's plant in Hawthorne, California, other firms owned by Musk were accused of breaking the WARN Act's 60-day layoff notice requirement.
The Tesla lawsuit in Nevada was dismissed on the basis that the plaintiffs had consented to enter into arbitration, resolving the matter outside of court, and SpaceX's WARN dispute was resolved in 2016 with a USD 4 million settlement split among 4,100 employees.
The plaintiffs in the Twitter lawsuit are requesting that bluebird and its owner be made to abide by the federal and California WARN Acts, which both call for a required 60-day notice period before mass layoffs. Additionally, the plaintiffs are requesting compensatory damages, which include unpaid bills and salaries.
That's not a lot to ask from the WARN Act, and the Department of Labor, in line with the penalties, sets it down for violations, which state that an offending business is liable to each aggrieved employee for an amount including back pay and benefits for the time of the violation, up to 60 days.
If Musk can't get out of this one, that's a lot of money owing to many employees. Just add it to the mountain of debt financiers took on with the purchase, which is sure to be fantastic for the future of the privately owned town square on the internet.
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