X, formerly Twitter, is facing an employment discrimination class action in California Northern District Court. The suit alleges that the mass layoffs at Twitter that occurred after Elon Musk took control of the company last year disproportionately impacted employees over the age of 50.
US District Judge Susan Illston refused to dismiss the lawsuit on Tuesday on the basis that the plaintiff, John Zeman, had sufficient evidence that the layoffs targeted older workers.
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At age 63, Zeman was one of the 2,537 employees laid off on 4 November 2022. He alleges that approximately 149 out of 248 (60%) employees laid off were aged 50 or older.
The suit also alleges that Musk has a history of discrimination against older people, citing a 2022 interview in which the X owner stated: “I don’t think we should try to have people live for a really long time.
“That it would cause asphyxiation of society because the truth is, most people don’t change their mind… they just die. So, if they don’t die, we will be stuck with old ideas and society wouldn’t advance…”
X is facing a stream of lawsuits spanning from the mass layoffs last November. Zeman’s lawyer, Shannon Liss-Riordan, represents around 2,000 former Twitter employees who claim the company has not paid severance to them, nor were they given notice of the mass layoffs.
Musk’s turbulent first months as Twitter’s owner saw advertisers leave the platform in droves.
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, recently announced plans to rekindle relationships with advertisers that fled the platform after it was acquired by Musk.
