A federal judge has once again dismissed a proposed lawsuit claiming X targeted female employees for layoffs.
Case Background and Dismissal
US District Judge Jon Tigar issued a written ruling stating it was unclear whether the two named plaintiffs in the 2022 lawsuit were among the thousands of employees laid off that year
He said it was uncertain whether they were laid off or had left for other reasons.
The judge added even if the plaintiffs were subjected to the layoffs, they had not sufficiently alleged that gender was a motivating factor.
He said:
“The amended complaint does not allege anything about the comparative qualifications, experience, job performance, or abilities of any male employees who were not laid off to suggest that similarly situated men were treated more favorably.”
This is the second time Judge Tigar has dismissed the case. However, he has given the plaintiffs three weeks to amend their lawsuit to include more detailed claims.
Plaintiffs’ Allegations and Legal Proceedings
The plaintiffs in the case argued X/Twitter laid off about 58% of its female engineers, following Musk’s takeover. This is compared to approximately 45% of male engineers. They also cited alleged comments by Musk they claimed were sexist.
However, Judge Tigar dismissed these claims. He said the comments were unrelated to the layoffs, which were executed by individual managers rather than by Musk himself.
Tigar also rejected the plaintiffs’ attempt to compare their case to a separate age discrimination lawsuit related to the layoff. A separate judge has denied X’s motion to dismiss. In that case, the plaintiff had specifically alleged he was laid off despite performing as well or better than younger colleagues who retained their jobs.
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Tigar wrote:
“Plaintiffs fail to make such allegations here.”
This lawsuit is just one of several filed by former employees after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and the subsequent layoffs.
The cuts affected about 75% of the workforce.
Other cases accuse the company of not providing employees and contractors with advance notice of the layoffs. More cases accuses X of failing to pay billions of dollars in promised severance, and pressuring workers to leave.
X has denied any wrongdoing, and some of the cases have been dismissed, leading to pending appeals from the plaintiffs.
Current Status and Future Steps
Judge Tigar has given the plaintiffs three weeks to revise their complaint to include more specific allegations.
