Twitter ‘Forced Out’ Female, Older Employees After Musk’s 2022 Acquisition, Class Action Alleges

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A former Twitter employee claims in a proposed class and collective action that new working conditions put in place following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media company in October 2022 were designed to “force out” women and older workers.

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The 12-page lawsuit says that after Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, Inc.—now known as X Corp.— he quickly slashed about half of the company’s workforce. According to the case, Twitter’s first round of mass layoffs in November 2022 disproportionately impacted female and older employees “to a statistically significant degree.”

“Yet even after this initial November wave of mass layoffs, Twitter persisted in its efforts to reduce the number of women and older workers from its ranks,” the complaint summarizes.

Per the filing, Musk began implementing “unreasonable” policy changes that he knew would cause more female and older employees to leave than young, male workers. For example, Musk soon required employees to work 12-hour shifts seven days a week, the filing says. The multi-billionaire also mandated that employees return to the office despite having been allowed to work remotely even pre-pandemic, the suit shares.

“These demands occurred while the company was in the process of mass layoffs, thus signaling to employees that these extraordinary efforts were required in order to keep their jobs,” the case says. By doing so, Twitter constructively terminated a disproportionate number of women and employees over 50 who refused to comply with these new expectations, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint goes on to share that on November 16, 2022, Musk sent an email giving employees an ultimatum that was “intended to, and did, result in further layoffs.” As the filing tells it, employees either had to agree to be part of the “new Twitter” — which would be “extremely hardcore” and require “long hours at high intensity” — or leave the company.

“Following Musk’s ultimatum, [the plaintiff], who was in her late 50s at the time, felt she was no longer welcome at Twitter, given her sex and age,” the case says. “She felt that Musk’s policies and messages seemed directed at maintaining a workforce that was largely young and male.”

The plaintiff says she did not agree to these new policies and was laid off the next day. According to the filing, the ultimatum resulted in more women leaving the company than men.

“Indeed, approximately 36% of remaining women left the company as a result of this ultimatum, while approximately 28% of men did,” the suit contends.

The lawsuit claims that X Corp.’s discriminatory conduct is “not surprising” given Musk’s history of making sexist and ageist comments, which has understandably made women and older employees “feel less welcome in the workplace under his leadership.”

The proposed class and collective action lawsuit seeks to cover female employees and employees aged 50 or older who were constructively discharged from their jobs during the months following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in late 2022.

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