Twitter is facing another lawsuit, the second this month, asserting that it owes over $500 million in severance pay to former employees. The legal action, filed as a proposed class action in Delaware federal court by Chris Woodfield, a former senior engineer at Twitter, alleges that the company specifically targeted older workers for layoffs, a claim not present in the other ongoing cases, as reported by Reuters.
Woodfield, who was based in Seattle, claims that Twitter repeatedly assured employees that they would receive two months' salary and additional payouts in the event of a layoff. However, he and other workers contend that they have not received the promised compensation.
Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in October of the previous year, the company implemented cost-cutting measures that led to the dismissal of over half its workforce.
The company has previously stated, in response to other lawsuits, that laid-off employees have been fully compensated.
A similar lawsuit was recently filed in California federal court, claiming that Twitter owes former employees over $500 million in severance. Twitter has yet to respond to that lawsuit, which alleges that the company violated a federal law governing employee benefit plans by failing to adhere to the terms of a severance plan established before Musk's acquisition.
Woodfield's lawsuit accuses Twitter of breach of contract and fraud. He also asserts that he was targeted for layoff because of his status as an "older worker," although the complaint does not disclose his age.
According to the lawsuit, Woodfield signed an agreement to arbitrate work-related legal disputes, which requires Twitter to cover the initial fees for individual cases to proceed. Woodfield claims that he initiated arbitration against Twitter earlier this year. However, Twitter allegedly refused to pay the required fee, effectively blocking the progress of the case. A similar claim was made by hundreds of former employees in a separate case earlier this year, with Twitter contending that the workers failed to submit the necessary paperwork.
Twitter has faced additional lawsuits accusing the company of disproportionately laying off women and workers with disabilities, not providing sufficient notice of layoffs, and failing to fulfill promised bonuses for remaining employees. Twitter has denied these allegations.