Musk Accused of ‘Eating’ Employees’ Bonuses
A new class action lawsuit against Twitter filed by Mark Schopenger, former twitter compensation manager, accused X Corp (FKA Twitter) of breaching contracts by failing to pay millions of dollars as promised bonuses to employees by company, according to the judge’s ruling.
In addition to critics and accusations X is facing, a new conflict is coming its way, and this time, it’s breaches of contracts.
The legal action asserts that Twitter violated agreements following the acquisition of the company by the tech billionaire Elon Musk last year. It highlights that Twitter had pledged to distribute 2022 bonuses to its staff upon achieving certain targets, but failed to do so, as reported by the New York Post.
In this matter, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria determined that once Schopenger fulfilled Twitter’s requirements, the company’s commitment to award him a bonus constituted a legally binding agreement under California law.
Twitter’s failure to disburse the promised bonus is seen as a breach of this contract.
In addition, the lawsuit aims to represent both former and current Twitter employees who were denied the 2022 bonus in a class action. Representing X, attorneys contended that the company’s verbal promise did not constitute a formal contract and argued for the application of Texas law in the case. However, it was decided that California law is applicable, and Twitter’s counterarguments were dismissed.
Recently, the company has been entangled in numerous legal disputes with employees and ex-executives, especially after Musk’s takeover and the subsequent dismissal of a significant portion of the workforce. This case contains many claims, including that X has discriminated against older employees, women, and workers with disabilities.
It also failed in providing an advance notice of mass layoffs, while the company denies any kind of violation.
Critics and Accusations
It is noteworthy to mention that X has no longer a media relations office, and that the platform which allows users to share short posts and videos, other than reacting with each other considered as a professional way for journalists worldwide, have recently faced some critics and accusations of anti-Semitism or by contributing to the spread of hate speech and violence.
However, its owner, the famous Elon Musk, denied all these accusations, stressing that no one, especially advertisers, will be allowed to pressure him or restrict freedom of expression on the platform, only to be surprised by the new lawsuit for violation of rights and contracts.
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