A new class action lawsuit has been filed against Twitter alleging that the company targeted women during widespread layoffs initiated by Elon Musk.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Dec. 7 by attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan on behalf of two former Twitter employees who were laid off by the company in November.
The two women said they are also filing the suit on behalf of other female Twitter employees across the country who “have been discharged or constructively discharged from their jobs during the chaotic weeks since multi-billionaire Elon Musk purchased the company.”
It alleges that Twitter “engaged in egregious discriminatory practices by disproportionately targeting women for lay-offs” and broke federal and California laws banning workplace sex discrimination.
Musk laid off around 3,700 Twitter employees on Nov. 4, shortly after acquiring the company for $44 billion.
“The mass termination of employees at Twitter has impacted female employees to a much greater extent than male employees – and to a highly statistically significant degree,” the lawsuit states.
Women ‘Forced to Leave’ Twitter
“Moreover, Elon Musk has made a number of publicly discriminatory remarks about women, further confirming that the mass termination’s greater impact on female employees resulted from discrimination,” the lawsuit claims. “Musk also quickly implemented new policies at Twitter that would have a disparate impact on women, thus forcing more women to leave the company.”The lawsuit states that prior to the layoffs, Twitter employed more male workers than female workers, with approximately 2,234 female employees and 2,900 male employees in the United States.
“Of those employees, approximately 1,271 females and 1,350 males were notified that day they were being laid off,” the lawsuit states. “Thus, 57 percent of female employees were laid off on Nov. 4, 2022, while 47 percent of male employees were laid off. Not only is this a large percentage difference, but it is also extremely statistically significant.”
The lawsuit also states that the disparity between women and men being laid off in engineering roles is even higher, with approximately 630 females and 1,037 males being laid off from those roles.
Prior to the layoffs, the company employed approximately 1,003 female and 2,150 male employees in engineering-related roles in the United States, according to the lawsuit, meaning that 63 percent of females and 48 percent of males in engineering-related roles were laid off on Nov. 4.
The complaint also alleges that Musk implemented a number of policies at Twitter that would disproportionately impact women, including “expectations that employees would work an unreasonable number of hours and that employees would be required to work out of physical offices,” after being allowed to work from home throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘Sexist, Demeaning, and Hostile’
“Elon Musk would certainly have known that these policy changes and expectations would have a disproportionate impact on women, who are more often caregivers for children and other family members, and thus not able to comply with such demands,” the lawsuit states.It further points to a number of tweets and statements that Musk has made which plaintiffs allege are “sexist, demeaning, and hostile” and show his “discriminatory animus against women.”
Plaintiffs are asking the court to ensure that Twitter provides lost back pay, front pay, lost benefits, bonuses, and equity, as well as emotional distress damages, punitive damages, interest, and any other “appropriate relief.”
“Women at Twitter never had a decent shot at being treated fairly once Elon Musk decided to buy the company,” said Liss-Riordan. “Instead, they had targets on their backs and regardless of their talent and contributions, they were at greater risk of losing their jobs than men.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Twitter for comment.
Twitter is facing a number of lawsuits from staff members who allege a violation of federal law and claim that they were not given enough prior notice of the layoffs, or did not receive their severance benefits.
