Case alleging age bias in layoffs against Elon Musk’s X is unwinnable

A California federal judge upheld a lawsuit against X, previously Twitter, alleging that Elon Musk’s business unfairly laid off a disproportionate number of older workers.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston determined on Tuesday that plaintiff John Zeman had shown enough evidence to proceed. Zeman’s proposed class action claims that the company’s extensive layoffs had a more significant impact on older workers.

For instance, Zeman asserts that X let go of 60% of employees aged 50 or above, and nearly 75% of those aged over 60, in contrast to 54% of workers under the age of 50.

Judge Illston determined that the federal law prohibiting age-based workplace discrimination permits individuals to bring forward “disparate impact” allegations as part of a class action. This specific issue has sparked disagreements in various courts.

The judge dismissed one aspect of Zeman’s claim, which suggested that X intentionally singled out older employees for layoffs. However, she granted Zeman a month to revise and resubmit his lawsuit, providing more detail to support that particular claim.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, Zeman’s attorney, commented that “this ruling supports our assertion that the allegations of discrimination should proceed.”

Twitter, X, did not respond to requests for comment. This lawsuit is one of numerous X is facing after Elon Musk cut Twitter’s personnel in half in November

These legal cases involve a range of allegations, including claims that X terminated both employees and contractors without the necessary advance notice. Additionally, there are allegations that Musk pushed out workers with disabilities by declining remote work options and urging employees to adopt a more rigorous approach.

At least two lawsuits assert that the company owes former employees at least $500 million in severance payments. Twitter has refuted any wrongdoing in relation to these cases.

Liss-Riordan also represents roughly 2,000 former Twitter employees who have initiated similar legal actions against the company through arbitration.