The weekend gave some disappointing news to laid-off Twitter employees who filed a class-action lawsuit against the social media platform in November, shortly after CEO Elon Musk initiated the first layoffs at the company. On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the five plaintiffs who proposed the class action must instead enter individual arbitration to pursue their allegations that Twitter violated employment law. was dropped.
However, this does not mean that the class action lawsuit has completely collapsed. U.S. District Judge James Donato said these five employees waived their right to sue by signing any arbitration agreement under Twitter’s former owner, but was later added to the lawsuit. The three plaintiffs said they have opted out. You still have the right to pursue the proposed class action lawsuit, alleging that
“After Twitter filed its allegations, plaintiffs amended their complaint to add three plaintiffs who they allege have opted out of Twitter’s arbitration agreement,” Donato wrote.
Five former employees who dropped out of the class action lawsuit attempted to argue that Twitter’s arbitration agreement was unreasonable and, in legal terms, “unconscionable.” But Donat wrote that the former employee could not prove this claim. The agreement specified that questions of its “enforceability and validity” could only be resolved by arbitrators.
Twitter could not be reached immediately for comment.
Shannon Rhys Riordan, an attorney representing plaintiffs in individual arbitrations and ongoing class actions, said in a press release last week that her company had already filed 300 arbitration requests on behalf of former Twitter employees. said.
Ars was unable to reach Liss-Riordan for comment on next steps in the class action, but Donato wrote that plaintiffs’ complaints “will be addressed later, as warranted by the development of the case.” there is
According to Liss-Riordan’s press release, her company has filed a total of four class-action lawsuits against Twitter and plans to file more requests for arbitration in the future. Her firm has previously helped former employees recover millions of dollars through arbitration, and she’s not the only one to fight back after Twitter’s layoffs. Twitter is seeking arbitration on behalf of a former employee of Twitter, and Twitter is also facing at least three complaints filed with the U.S. Labor Commission, according to Reuters.
In a press release, Liss-Riordan said, “Musk’s decision to fire Twitter employees is not only disgraceful, but extremely costly. These claims are being defended by Twitter. Requiring workers to file claims one by one has backfired on many of the companies our company has undertook. We believe the arbitration clause could be used to fire employees and keep them from claiming their rights, but we regret that they wanted to.”
