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Shannon Liss-Riordan is representing employees in lawsuit against Twitter

"We were very concerned that he was going to let people go in violation of federal and state laws by not providing them any notice, not providing them the severance and the pay that they're entitled to."

The Twitter logo is seen on the awning of the building that houses the Twitter office in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File

By Gwen Egan

November 6, 2022

Former Attorney General candidate Shannon Liss-Riordan is filing a class-action lawsuit against Twitter for violation of labor laws.

The suit, which was filed in federal court in San Francisco Thursday, is on behalf of one employee who was laid off and three others who were locked out of their work accounts according to reporting by WCVB.

One party involved in the suit posted documents on Twitter saying, “Look Ma I’m suing Twitter.”

Was not planning on doing anything like this initially… But… Look Ma I'm suing Twitter. pic.twitter.com/xxdO0bA4ZV
— ma.nu (@lmanul) November 4, 2022

The suit alleges Twitter did not provide proper notice when terminating employees. Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, said employees would be emailed to be informed of their employment status moving forward. However, some employees had already lost access to their work accounts by Friday.

“We were very concerned that he was going to let people go in violation of federal and state laws by not providing them any notice, not providing them the severance and the pay that they’re entitled to. So we filed this lawsuit last night preemptively to make sure that employees were on notice and were aware of their rights,” Liss-Riordan told NewsCenter 5.

The employee filing in San Francisco is not the only one feeling burned by Musk’s tactics.

Lawyer Lisa Bloom said she’s been receiving messages from former Twitter employees and said, “Mr. Musk, the storm is coming.”

I'm now in contact with many Twitter workers who reached out to me about a class action lawsuit overnight.

You had the right to 60 days notice under federal and state WARN Acts.

You didn't get it.

Mr. Musk, the storm is coming.#TwitterLayoffs
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) November 4, 2022

Musk hasn’t been private about his intentions for the company since his $44-billion acquisition of Twitter, saying he would lay off over half of the company’s employees. If anyone thought he was bluffing, Musk firing CEO Parag Agrawal on his first day as owner set them straight.

“This is an employer who has a history of thumbing his nose at federal labor laws,” said Liss-Riordan. She said there was also a case filed against Musk’s layoffs at Tesla earlier this year.