(Reuters) – Twitter Inc has secured a ruling allowing the social media company to force several laid-off staff suing over their termination to pursue their claims via individual arbitration than a class-action lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge James Donato on Friday ruled that five former Twitter employees pursuing a proposed class motion accusing the corporate of failing to offer adequate notice before laying them off after its acquisition by Elon Musk must pursue their claims in private arbitration.
Donato granted Twitter’s request to force the five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually, citing agreements they signed with the corporate.
Twitter didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
The San Francisco judge left for one more day “as warranted by developments within the case” whether the complete class motion lawsuit should be dismissed, though, as he noted three other former Twitter employees who alleged they’d opted out of the corporate’s arbitration agreement have joined the lawsuit after it was first filed.
Last yr, Donato had ruled that, Twitter must notify the hundreds of staff who were laid off after its acquisition by Musk following a proposed class motion accusing the corporate of failing to offer adequate notice before terminating them.
The judge said that before asking staff to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the corporate, Twitter must give them “a succinct and plainly worded notice”.
Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, and a whole lot more subsequently resigned.
In December last yr, Twitter was also accused by dozens of former employees of assorted legal violations stemming from Musk’s takeover of the corporate, including targeting women for layoffs and failing to pay promised severance.
Twitter can be facing a minimum of three complaints filed with a U.S. labor board claiming staff were fired for criticizing the corporate, attempting to prepare a strike, and other conduct protected by federal labor law.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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