Twitter beats 2 lawsuits stemming from mass layoffs, for now

NEW YORK - A California federal judge on Monday (May 8) dismissed a proposed class action accusing Twitter of targeting female employees for layoffs after billionaire Elon Musk acquired the company in 2022, but said plaintiffs would be allowed to amend the lawsuit to add more details.

United States District Judge Jon Tigar said the lawsuit filed in December was "devoid of basic information", such as the plaintiffs' positions at Twitter and the identity of managers who decided which workers would be laid off.

Judge Tigar also said that allegedly sexist remarks made by Mr Musk and cited by the plaintiffs were irrelevant because they came long before he acquired Twitter for US$44 billion (S$58.3 billion) in 2022.

The decision came after a different judge in the same court on Friday dismissed a separate lawsuit accusing Twitter of discriminating against workers with disabilities by requiring employees to report to the office and put in long hours working at high intensity after the layoffs in November.

Both judges gave the plaintiffs three weeks to file amended lawsuits further detailing their claims.

Ms Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in both cases, said that she planned to file a revised complaint in each lawsuit, adding new facts.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The plaintiffs in the sex discrimination lawsuit say that Twitter laid off 57 per cent of its female workers compared with 47 per cent of men after Mr Musk took over.

The disparity was more stark for engineering roles, where 63 per cent of women lost their jobs compared with 48 per cent of men, according to the lawsuit.

The disability bias case was filed in November by a former engineering manager and cancer survivor who claimed that Twitter fired him when he refused to stop working remotely.

Mr Musk said in a memo to staff in November that employees should be prepared to work "long hours at high intensity" or quit.

The lawsuits are among several that Twitter is facing stemming from Mr Musk's decision to lay off about half of the company's workforce.

Twitter has denied wrongdoing in those cases, including ones claiming that the company failed to pay promised severance. 

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