One hundred former employees sued Twitter Inc for various legal violations stemming from the company’s acquisition by Elon Muskincluding the disproportionate dismissal of women and the failure to pay promised compensation.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the workers, said she had filed 100 arbitration claims against Twitter making claims similar to four class action lawsuits pending in California federal court.
According to Liss-Riordan, all the workers signed agreements to submit disputes against the company to arbitration and not take it to court, which means they probably won’t be able to participate in class action lawsuits.
Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees in early November as part of Musk’s cost-cutting plan, which paid $44 billion to acquire the social media platform. Hundreds more resigned later.
The arbitration lawsuits accuse Twitter of sexual discrimination, breach of contract and illegal firing of employees who were on medical or paternity leave.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Liss-Riordan said her firm has spoken with hundreds of other former Twitter employees and intends to file more claims for arbitration.
Twitter’s conduct since Musk took over is unbelievably egregious, and we will pursue all avenues to protect workers and obtain the compensation they are owed from Twitter,” he said.
Pending class action lawsuits allege that Twitter fired employees and contractors without the 60-day notice required by law, disproportionately fired women and pushed workers with disabilities out of business by refusing to allow remote work.
Twitter also faces at least three lawsuits filed with a US labor board alleging workers were fired for criticizing the company, attempting to stage a strike and other conduct protected by federal labor law.
The company has denied having infringed the law that requires notice and has not yet responded to the other claims.
