The Twitter purge initiated by Elon Musk when he took over the company left more than half of his 7,500 employees on the sidelines, and now many of them are taking the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon to court.
The social media giant is facing a growing number of cases over the terms of those layoffs — and even a complaint with the City of San Francisco musk has illegally converted office space into bedrooms to allow on-site workers to sleep.
“It’s very worrying that the richest man in the world thinks he can flout all workers’ rights and doesn’t have to obey the law. We intend to hold him accountable,” said attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan.
Liss-Riordan leads such a case against it Twitter — the core argument is that some employees aren’t getting the severance pay and compensation they were promised prior to Musk’s acquisition.
These pledges, which included bonuses and stock options, were made to keep employees at Twitter and guaranteed an exit package when the volatile Musk’s arrival loomed.
Other cases confront Musk about his brazen ultimatum that employees either subscribe to his vision for the company and adopt a “hardcore” work ethic, or take three months of their pay and quit.
Lawyers allege that this was a disguised layoff plan that ignored California law by denying workers statutory compensation and 60-day notice.
Blunt disregard
Musk’s dislike of working from home is also being challenged, as employees with disabilities or health conditions find asking them to return to the office discriminatory.
“There was a blatant disregard for personal circumstances such as relevant medical issues. All of this happened while Elon Musk was publicly abusing us on Twitter,” said a former Twitter executive, Amir Shevat.
Shevat and other associates are represented by Lisa Bloom, a high-profile Los Angeles attorney who represented disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Bloom is dealing with arbitration claims because many Twitter employees signed their right to fight their plight in court when they joined the company.
“We will continue to file these claims one by one and bombard Twitter with claims,” Bloom said at a news conference on Monday.
“We stand ready to initiate hundreds, if not thousands, of individual arbitrations to ensure employees get what’s due,” she said.
According to experts, this could cost Twitter and Musk dearly.
Twitter “could quickly resolve the matter by paying the former employees what the law owes them,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University.
“Or it could play hardball and make them work for it, which could take years,” he said.
The stack of legal cases could also force Musk to work towards a settlement, especially as his company is under enormous financial strain after paying US$44 billion (around Rs.3.37.465 billion) for the full takeover.
The usually outspoken businessman has said little specifically about legal cases, and reserved criticism for a city inspection after Twitter conference rooms were converted into makeshift bedrooms.
“So instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl, the city of San Francisco is attacking companies that provide beds for tired employees,” Musk said in a tweet, hitting at Mayor London Breed.
Musk was referring to a recent scandal involving a 10-month-old boy who overdosed on fentanyl after ingesting the substance at a playground.
