New York (EFE) .
Led by Courtney McMillan, a former head of the company’s human resources area, the fired employees brought the action in a San Francisco (California) court.
The lawsuit alleges that Twitter has laid off approximately 6,000 workers since its acquisition by Musk and that none of them have been paid the compensation they were entitled to under the company’s severance plan.
According to McMillan, that plan provided that at least those laid off should receive two months’ salary plus one week for each year worked in the event of dismissal, and some of them were entitled to even higher compensation based on their rank.
However, the lawsuit claims, the former employees received at most one month of severance and many have yet to receive anything, so the signatories accuse Twitter and Musk of violating federal regulations on workers’ compensation.
Layoffs, part of Twitter’s transformation
The company already faces other similar lawsuits for allegedly breaching the contracts of fired employees, while this one relies on the violation of those US laws.
Although it does not specify the number of victims, the legal action considers that those dismissed are jointly entitled to at least 500 million dollars.
After taking control of Twitter last year, Musk undertook a massive restructuring of the social network, abruptly laying off more than half the staff, adding new departures in the months that followed.
In total, it is estimated that the company reduced its employees to about 1,300, when previously it had about 7,500.