WHAT CLASS ACTION?

Twitter Ordered to Tell Fired Employees About Ongoing Severance Lawsuit by Judge

An ongoing suit alleges the company failed to cough up its compensation packages—and a judge thinks recently terminated workers have a right to know about it.

Employees who fell victim to mass layoffs in the wake of Elon Musk’s messy takeover of Twitter must be informed about ongoing labor litigation against the company before they sign onto unfavorable severance packages, a judge ruled Wednesday. If Twitter wants its terminated employees to sign class action waivers before being able to access their severance pay, U.S. District Judge James Donato said, they must be told about Cornet v. Twitter, Inc., a suit that alleges the company reneged on its severance promises. “This is a textbook scenario for providing notice of a pending class action lawsuit,” Donato wrote. “There is no question that Twitter has the right to communicate with its employees… But the communications should not be rendered misleading by omitting material information about a pending lawsuit.” In a statement to Bloomberg News, labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan called the decision “a victory” for Twitter’s workforce, “a basic but important step that will provide employees with the opportunity to more fully understand their rights instead of just signing them away, and potentially signing away money they are owed, under pressure from [Elon] Musk.”