Thousands of people were caught up in the mass Twitter layoffs following Elon Musk's acquisition/deconstruction of the platform. Now, according to a judge, 150 of them can collectively sue the social media giant for age discrimination in its decision to lay them off. 

US District Judge Susan Illston in the Northern District of California decided [PDF] on Tuesday that all Twitter employees over the age of 50 who were caught up in layoffs on November 4, 2022 - "roughly 149 employees," per the judge - can sue Twitter (now X) collectively. 

"Plaintiff has shown beyond mere speculation that Twitter may have discriminated against older employees in the November 4, 2022 [layoff], which constitutes a single decision that affected all members of the proposed class," Illston said in her decision. "The Court further finds that the extent to which members of the proposed action will rely on common evidence to prove the alleged discrimination weighs in favor of a collective action here."

That said, the class certification doesn't mean the matter will end up in court as a class-action case: This initial award primarily grants lawyers for the plaintiffs the right to send out letters informing class members they can opt into the lawsuit. Beyond that, class status is still conditional. 

As Illston points out in her order granting class status, there are two steps to awarding class status, the first being whether pleadings and affidavits are enough to support letting the plaintiffs notify potential class members of the proceedings, which is where the age discrimination case is at. 

In the second step, "the party opposing the certification may move to decertify the class once discovery is complete and the case is ready to be tried," Illston noted. In essence, it's now time for everyone to lay their cards on the table so the judge can decide whether the case goes to trial as a class action. 

Regardless, plaintiff lawyer and frequent Musk opponent Shannon Liss-Riordan said her team is pleased with the decision, and not only because Illston awarded conditional class certification. 

The judge "agreed that notice should go out to all affected employees, even if they signed arbitration agreements," Liss-Riordan told The Register in an emailed statement. "We are pursuing claims in arbitration for 2,000 Twitter employees who lost their jobs after Elon Musk bought the company, who signed arbitration agreements. Now even more will know about their rights."

Liss-Riordan has been chasing Musk for poor handling of Twitter layoffs practically since he bought the Blue Bird app, and is also working on other discrimination-related layoff lawsuits on behalf of ex-Tweeps who've accused the company of age, medical, race and sex discrimination by including them in mass layoffs. 

"Our cases are moving forward and we feel good about them," Liss-Riordan told us. "We've developed strong evidence of Elon Musk's multiple legal violations against employees when he acquired Twitter."

Along with the 2,000 arbitration cases, Liss-Riordan said her firm has around a dozen class actions currently pending against X. 

Age discrimination is hardly X's only current legal rodeo - the social media giant is also being sued by former employees over unpaid stock options, by vendors alleging unpaid bills and the platform has even found itself banned in Brazil for failure to comply with local laws. X isn't the only Musk venture that has faced legal challenges regarding financial disputes. 

X didn't respond to questions. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/09/05/age_discrimination_layoff_twitter_x_musk/