By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters)—Twitter Inc has been hit with one other lawsuit stemming from the current purging of half its workforce, this one accusing the social media firm of disproportionately concentrating on feminine staff for layoffs.
The proposed class motion filed late on Wednesday in San Francisco federal courtroom mentioned that after Twitter was taken over by Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, it laid off 57% of its feminine staff in comparison with 47% of males.
Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 staff in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, and lots of extra subsequently resigned.
The gender disparity was extra stark for engineering roles, the place 63% of girls misplaced their jobs in comparison with 48% of males, in accordance with the brand new lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by two girls who had been laid off by Twitter final month accuses the corporate of violating federal and California legal guidelines banning office intercourse discrimination.
Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, mentioned girls “had targets on their backs” as soon as Musk acquired the corporate, no matter their expertise and contributions.
Liss-Riordan represents present and former Twitter staff in three different pending lawsuits filed in the identical courtroom since final month.
Those circumstances embody numerous claims, together with that Twitter laid off staff and contractors with out the advance discover required by regulation and did not pay promised severance, and that Musk pressured out staff with disabilities by refusing to permit distant work and calling on staff to be extra “hardcore.”
At least three staff have individually filed complaints towards Twitter with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board claiming they confronted retaliation for advocating for higher working situations.
Twitter has denied wrongdoing within the lawsuit involving advance discover, and has not responded to the opposite complaints.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
