Two women who lost their jobs during the recent layoffs are suing the company for violating federal and California laws. The lawsuit, filed at San Francisco federal court, stated that Twitter had laid off 57% of its female workforce compared with 47% of male employees.
The lawsuit claims these figures are worse for engineering roles – with 63% of women losing their jobs compared to 48% of men.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said women “had targets on their backs” after Musk acquired the company.
Speaking at a press conference in San Francisco, Liss-Riordan said, “It’s not a huge surprise unfortunately that women were hit so hard by these layoffs when Elon Musk was overseeing these incredibly ad hoc layoffs just in a matter of days.”
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44bn and set about implementing cost-cutting measures, including laying off around half of its workforce – around 3,700 employees.
Reuters, who reported the initial filings, also stated that at least three other workers had filed separate complaints against Twitter. These cases claim that Twitter laid of employees and contractors without advance notice required by law; failed to pay promised severance; and that disabled workers were forced out when Twitter refused to allow remote working.
