Seven former employees of Twitter (now renamed "X"), have filed a complaint against their ex-employer for unlawful discrimination, claiming that their dismissals at the end of 2022 were directly linked to their gender, age, ethnic origin or the fact that they were returning from maternity leave.
Beyond their personal cases, the seven plaintiffs believe that when Elon Musk decided on a gigantic wave of layoffs shortly after acquiring Twitter in October, the contract terminations mainly affected women and members of ethnic minorities, both structurally and as a result of deliberate bias from the board.
Drawing on detailed redundancy figures, the plaintiffs note that the company's engineering department had 863 women and 1,834 men before Musk's arrival and that 507 women and 826 men had been made redundant by the end of 2022 – 59% of female engineers versus 45% of male engineers. In their view, these dismissals were necessarily arbitrary in nature, as the choices of people targeted "were made quickly by a small group of managers, under close supervision by Musk. Some of these managers were bought in from other companies owned by Musk (such as Tesla), who did not have much, if any, knowledge about Twitter's operations."
The case is also based on multiple public statements by the billionaire, mainly published on X/Twitter, including misogynistic jokes and his tweet "Being a Mom is just as important as any career." Many commentators have pointed out that Musk, who is known for his natalist views, is accused of firing several women on their return from maternity leave.
This is not the only complaint targeting Musk's redundancy plan for the social media platform. In July, a class action suit was launched by former employees to demand payment of the severance packages announced by the billionaire. The dismissed employees, who had been promised three months' salary, claimed to have received only a third of the sum. Two other women have challenged their dismissal in separate discrimination proceedings. California, where X is headquartered and where the latest complaint has been filed, has strict legislation against discrimination in employment that can result in heavy fines.
On Thursday evening, in a timing coincidence or PR operation that followed the announcement of the discrimination complaint, X CEO Linda Yaccarino appeared on CNBC for her first "major interview" since taking over as CEO in June. Yaccarino, who was given responsibility in particular for bringing back advertisers who deserted the platform, insisted that X was now a safe and peaceful platform although she did not provide any convincing evidence. She also justified the platform's name change, saying it amounted to a "liberation from Twitter" and a departure from the "legacy mindset" of the platform.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.