Elon Musk-run Twitter has been sued in the US for mass lay offs without giving employees advanced written notice, the media reported on Friday.
The lawsuit has been filed in the US District Court in the Northern District of California, in violation of worker protection laws including the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act as well as the California WARN Act, both of which require 60 days of advance notice, reports TechCrunch.
The plaintiffs said they were "terminated on November 3 by being locked out of their accounts".
"Twitter is also enacting widespread layoffs across its workforce today, on Nov. 4, 2022, it stated, adding that California's Employment Development Department had not received a notice related to the event," they said.
The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that Twitter has violated the federal and California WARN Acts and "certify the case as a class action suit".
The lawsuit is seeking "a range of relief, including compensatory damages (including wages owed), as well as declaratory relief, pre- and post-judgment interest, plus other attorneys' fees and costs".
Under Twitter's takeover deal terms, the laid-off employees should receive 60 days of salary and the cash value of the stock.
Musk has previously laid off employees without any proper notice at Tesla, and is facing a class-action lawsuit.