'Don't cry because it's over': Twitter sued over Elon Musk's mass layoff plan as many employees logged out

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: According to a class-action lawsuit filed by former workers in a federal court in San Francisco, Twitter is being sued over Elon Musk's proposal to fire almost half of its staff. The suit says the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, a federal regulation requiring companies to give advance notice to employees affected by plant closings and mass layoffs, was allegedly violated by the company's purported practice of firing employees without giving adequate notice.

The lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg.

The suit was brought on behalf of five Twitter employees so far, with one one saying they were fired on 1 November, and three claiming were not informed at the time of filing but had been locked out of their email accounts. The case cited sackings at Tesla, where the company sought to obtain full release from its obligations under the Warn Act by offering severance of one or two weeks’ pay instead. “Plaintiffs here are reasonably concerned that, absent court intervention, Twitter will engage in similar behaviour and seek releases from laid-off employees without informing them of their rights or the pendency of this case,” the filing stated.

Musk is planning to terminate approximately 3,700 positions, or about half of Twitter's work force, as part of his effort to reduce costs at the business that he just paid $44 billion for last week. According to the Daily Mail, in a memo distributed on Thursday night, November 2, the business advised employees to expect termination letters. It stated that every employee will be notified through email on Friday by 9 am PT as to whether they still have a position with the company.