Twitter’s retirement benefits delayed in layoff lawsuit, company says – National

Twitter Inc. has filed a lawsuit in arbitration after telling a federal judge in San Francisco that the lawsuit alleging that the company violated U.S. law by firing thousands of employees without notice was groundless. .

Court filings filed late Monday show Twitter’s initial response to a proposed class action lawsuit filed earlier this month under federal law requiring 60 days’ notice before engaging in mass layoffs. I’m here.

Twitter has laid off about 3,700 employees, half of its workforce, and hundreds more have resigned since the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, bought the company last month.

On Monday, Twitter said it had fulfilled its legal obligation by notifying dismissed workers that their last date would be January 4, or more than 60 days later.

The company said a pending motion by plaintiffs to force Twitter to notify laid-off workers of the lawsuit before asking them to sign a termination agreement has caused confusion and reduced severance payments. It said it would only delay payment and asked the judge to dismiss it.

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In a separate document, Twitter said the plaintiffs signed a contract to arbitrate employment-related disputes and moved to refer the claims to individual arbitration.

Arbitration allows companies to avoid costly class-action lawsuits, which the group says is less expensive and more efficient than going to court.

Shannon Rhys Riordan, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Tuesday that she stands ready to represent workers in arbitration if the case is driven out of court.

“Twitter’s response to our allegations is basically that employees are bound by an arbitration agreement, so Twitter shouldn’t have to worry about breaking the law. Twitter is wrong,” she said. Said.

The company argued in the same court that it failed to give advance notice to contract workers before they were fired and discriminated against workers with disabilities by barring them from working remotely after Musk took office. I am facing two other class action lawsuits.

Twitter has not responded to these lawsuits.