Report: Twitter Facing Lawsuit for Alleged Discrimination and Unfair Severance Packages During Layoffs

Twitter Inc was faced with its second lawsuit this month, alleging that it owes a minimum of $500 million in severance pay to former employees. This lawsuit is part of a string of legal cases stemming from Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company.

A class-action lawsuit filed by former Twitter senior engineer Chris Woodfield in federal court in Delaware also alleges the company targeted older workers in layoffs, which is not the case in other pending cases.

Woodfield, who worked at Twitter out of Seattle, says the company repeatedly told employees they would receive two months’ pay and other compensation if they were fired, but he and other employees have not received the money.

Twitter laid off more than half of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure after Musk bought the company last October.

Twitter no longer has a media relations department, and the company responded to an email seeking comment with an automated response that included a poop emoji. The company has responded to other lawsuits that the laid-off employees have been paid their full salary.

A similar lawsuit was filed last week in federal court in California that claims Twitter owes former employees more than $500 million in severance pay.

Twitter has not responded to the lawsuit, which alleges it violated federal employee benefits law by failing to comply with the terms of a severance plan that was drawn up before Musk bought the company.

Woodfield’s lawsuit accuses the company of breach of contract and fraud. Woodfield also alleges that Twitter is targeting him for termination because he is a “senior employee,” although the complaint does not specify his age.

According to the lawsuit, Woodfield signed an agreement to arbitrate labor-related legal disputes, which requires Twitter to pay initial fees to allow individual cases to be handled. He says he started an arbitration case against Twitter earlier this year.

But Woodfield claims Twitter has refused to pay in his case, preventing it from moving forward. That claim was made by hundreds of former employees in a separate case earlier this year. Twitter has said that these employees did not provide the necessary paperwork.

Twitter has also been accused in several separate lawsuits of disproportionately firing women and disabled workers, failing to provide advance notice of layoffs, and failing to pay promised bonuses to its remaining employees. The company has denied the allegations.