Former Twitter employees accuse it of holding up 891 arbitrations
(2023/07/05)
- Reference: 1688562906
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/07/05/twitter_arbitrations_lawsuit/
- Source link:
A proposed class action brought by a former Twitter worker laid off last year, allegedly for not clicking yes on Elon Musk's "go hardcore or go home" email, has accused the company of holding up 891 arbitrations.
The lawsuit claims the company is putting a spanner in the works of the actions even though employees all signed contracts obligating them to take any disputes to that platform rather than a civil court.
The [1]suit [PDF] filed in Northern California yesterday notes that when "class action lawsuits were filed against Twitter in court, Twitter regularly moved to compel arbitration, and it succeeded (with respect to employees who were bound by an arbitration clause)."
[2]
The suit also includes several attachments of the clauses seen in these employees' contracts, stating that the "majority of these agreements provide that the parties agree to bring any claims in arbitration before Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS)." JAMS is a private arbitration service provider.
[3]
[4]
However, the suit alleges Twitter now "refuses to pay the full arbitration fees for these cases," and the services provider has told the former staffers' legal reps that it will close its files on the disputes.
According to the lawsuit, Twitter served JAMS with notice of its refusal to pay these fees and on June 30 JAMS said it would "not proceed with cases that we have determined fall under our Employment Minimum Standards if Respondent will not abide by those standards."
[5]
Three days later, former Twitter engineer Fabien Ho Ching Ma filed a petition to compel Twitter into arbitration in the Northern District of California.
According to an attachment to the complaint, Ma "was laid off from his job at Twitter when he did not click 'yes' in response to a message from Elon Musk on November 16, 2022." His legal team referred to another class action complaint
This week's suit – the one relating to arbitrations – claims that since Twitter was bought by multibillionaire Elon Musk, "the company has laid off, terminated, or constructively discharged a very substantial portion (75 percent or more) of its employees."
[7]
It adds:
These employees have made various claims against the company concerning their separations from Twitter, including claims related to unpaid severance payments, discrimination, and other legal obligations that Twitter has refused to comply with.
Ma's attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, told us in an emailed statement: "Now that Twitter has realized it is facing thousands of arbitration demands and it is going to be extraordinarily expensive to arbitrate the employees' claims individually, it is declining to proceed with arbitration (except in a few states, such as California). So we are moving to compel it to arbitration.
[8]Twitter rate-limits itself into a weekend of chaos
[9]Elon Musk's Twitter moves were 'reaffirming' says Reddit boss amid API changes
[10]Music bosses go after Twitter's unlicensed soundtrack to the tune of $250M
[11]Reddit cuts five percent of workers while API pricing shift sours developers
"The reason we had to file nearly 2,000 individual arbitration demands is because Twitter forced us to – by moving to compel arbitration. Now that it has made its bed, it doesn't want to lie in it."
Why do employers ask you to sign arbitration agreements?
Money. Lawyers' fees. Privacy. When an employee signs an arbitration agreement, they're giving up their right to sue in civil court for things like wrongful termination, breach of contract, discrimination or harassment, and other grievances.
The whole process is less formal and – a matter particularly important to some corporations – the proceedings are kept private. Depending on who you talk to, a staffer can benefit from the process, especially as employers sometimes bear all the costs of bringing the action besides the initial filing fee (as this lawsuit is claiming the plaintiff's contract stipulates). It's also a much speedier process.
Some legislators, both at the US federal and state level, are trying to [12]limit their use, especially when they provide secrecy in the case of an employee bringing a sexual misconduct complaint.
The law firm said it had filed 11 class complaints in court and "nearly 2,000 individual arbitrations against Twitter." According to its website, the firm believes "all employees who were employed at Twitter before Elon Musk bought the company and have lost their jobs are entitled to additional severance pay, and many have additional legal claims as well."
It was a public holiday yesterday in the US, commemorating the American colonies' secession from Great Britain, and Twitter's owner must have been taking a long weekend break as he hadn't tweeted since Sunday. The platform experienced a weekend of wobbles after Musk enacted harsh rate limits on tweet views and posts in order "to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation." As we noted earlier this week, Twitter under Musk's rule has made a [13]habit [14]of [15]not [16]paying [17]its [18]bills as it continues to try to move its business model into one where it actually [19]stops losing money .
In the wake of the [20]Silicon Valley Bank debacle, investors are suddenly following the mantra of "revenues are vanity, profit is sanity" after years of ignoring reality. A banking techie we spoke to recently told us his team had been baffled for years over Twitter's business model – but "there's no telling investors."
Needless to say, Musk's press email responded to our request for comment with his customary poomoji. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/07/04/twitter_arbitration_petition.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZKWToBiFlqWPaxGQEJxIqQAAAwM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.403270/gov.uscourts.cand.403270.40.0.pdf
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZKWToBiFlqWPaxGQEJxIqQAAAwM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/03/twitter_rate_limits_itself_into/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/19/reddit_ceo_musk_twitter/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/music_publsihers_sue_twitter/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/09/reddit_job_cuts_api_pricing_pushback/
[12] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/workplace-arbitration-agreements-where-we-are-where-were-going-2022-08-15/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/24/monarchy_chasing_twitter_rent/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/23/twitter_consultant_lawsuit/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/twitter_market_square_lawsuit/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/05/more_twitter_lawsuits/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/twitter_staff_sue_musk/
[18] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/07/03/twitter-faces-lawsuit-over-unpaid-office-fees-again/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/twitter_value_decline/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/10/silicon_valley_tech_bank_troubles/
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The lawsuit claims the company is putting a spanner in the works of the actions even though employees all signed contracts obligating them to take any disputes to that platform rather than a civil court.
The [1]suit [PDF] filed in Northern California yesterday notes that when "class action lawsuits were filed against Twitter in court, Twitter regularly moved to compel arbitration, and it succeeded (with respect to employees who were bound by an arbitration clause)."
[2]
The suit also includes several attachments of the clauses seen in these employees' contracts, stating that the "majority of these agreements provide that the parties agree to bring any claims in arbitration before Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS)." JAMS is a private arbitration service provider.
[3]
[4]
However, the suit alleges Twitter now "refuses to pay the full arbitration fees for these cases," and the services provider has told the former staffers' legal reps that it will close its files on the disputes.
According to the lawsuit, Twitter served JAMS with notice of its refusal to pay these fees and on June 30 JAMS said it would "not proceed with cases that we have determined fall under our Employment Minimum Standards if Respondent will not abide by those standards."
[5]
Three days later, former Twitter engineer Fabien Ho Ching Ma filed a petition to compel Twitter into arbitration in the Northern District of California.
According to an attachment to the complaint, Ma "was laid off from his job at Twitter when he did not click 'yes' in response to a message from Elon Musk on November 16, 2022." His legal team referred to another class action complaint
[6]PDF
showing this meant Musk's so-called "hardcore" email – the billionaire's ultimatum that any "remaining employees would have to 'be extremely hardcore', including 'working long hours at high intensity'" in order to keep their jobs. According to the earlier complaint, "remaining employees still working for Twitter were given until 5:00 P.M. Eastern time the following day, November 17, 2022, to click 'yes' on a link to agree to this vision Musk stated for 'Twitter 2.0'."This week's suit – the one relating to arbitrations – claims that since Twitter was bought by multibillionaire Elon Musk, "the company has laid off, terminated, or constructively discharged a very substantial portion (75 percent or more) of its employees."
[7]
It adds:
These employees have made various claims against the company concerning their separations from Twitter, including claims related to unpaid severance payments, discrimination, and other legal obligations that Twitter has refused to comply with.
Ma's attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, told us in an emailed statement: "Now that Twitter has realized it is facing thousands of arbitration demands and it is going to be extraordinarily expensive to arbitrate the employees' claims individually, it is declining to proceed with arbitration (except in a few states, such as California). So we are moving to compel it to arbitration.
[8]Twitter rate-limits itself into a weekend of chaos
[9]Elon Musk's Twitter moves were 'reaffirming' says Reddit boss amid API changes
[10]Music bosses go after Twitter's unlicensed soundtrack to the tune of $250M
[11]Reddit cuts five percent of workers while API pricing shift sours developers
"The reason we had to file nearly 2,000 individual arbitration demands is because Twitter forced us to – by moving to compel arbitration. Now that it has made its bed, it doesn't want to lie in it."
Why do employers ask you to sign arbitration agreements?
Money. Lawyers' fees. Privacy. When an employee signs an arbitration agreement, they're giving up their right to sue in civil court for things like wrongful termination, breach of contract, discrimination or harassment, and other grievances.
The whole process is less formal and – a matter particularly important to some corporations – the proceedings are kept private. Depending on who you talk to, a staffer can benefit from the process, especially as employers sometimes bear all the costs of bringing the action besides the initial filing fee (as this lawsuit is claiming the plaintiff's contract stipulates). It's also a much speedier process.
Some legislators, both at the US federal and state level, are trying to [12]limit their use, especially when they provide secrecy in the case of an employee bringing a sexual misconduct complaint.
The law firm said it had filed 11 class complaints in court and "nearly 2,000 individual arbitrations against Twitter." According to its website, the firm believes "all employees who were employed at Twitter before Elon Musk bought the company and have lost their jobs are entitled to additional severance pay, and many have additional legal claims as well."
It was a public holiday yesterday in the US, commemorating the American colonies' secession from Great Britain, and Twitter's owner must have been taking a long weekend break as he hadn't tweeted since Sunday. The platform experienced a weekend of wobbles after Musk enacted harsh rate limits on tweet views and posts in order "to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation." As we noted earlier this week, Twitter under Musk's rule has made a [13]habit [14]of [15]not [16]paying [17]its [18]bills as it continues to try to move its business model into one where it actually [19]stops losing money .
In the wake of the [20]Silicon Valley Bank debacle, investors are suddenly following the mantra of "revenues are vanity, profit is sanity" after years of ignoring reality. A banking techie we spoke to recently told us his team had been baffled for years over Twitter's business model – but "there's no telling investors."
Needless to say, Musk's press email responded to our request for comment with his customary poomoji. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/07/04/twitter_arbitration_petition.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZKWToBiFlqWPaxGQEJxIqQAAAwM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.403270/gov.uscourts.cand.403270.40.0.pdf
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZKWToBiFlqWPaxGQEJxIqQAAAwM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/03/twitter_rate_limits_itself_into/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/19/reddit_ceo_musk_twitter/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/music_publsihers_sue_twitter/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/09/reddit_job_cuts_api_pricing_pushback/
[12] https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/workplace-arbitration-agreements-where-we-are-where-were-going-2022-08-15/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/24/monarchy_chasing_twitter_rent/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/23/twitter_consultant_lawsuit/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/31/twitter_market_square_lawsuit/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/05/more_twitter_lawsuits/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/twitter_staff_sue_musk/
[18] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/07/03/twitter-faces-lawsuit-over-unpaid-office-fees-again/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/twitter_value_decline/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/10/silicon_valley_tech_bank_troubles/
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Musk is a shit
alain williams
There is a clear imbalance of power between him and employees. What he is doing is despicable. It is clear that Musk is a bully who only cares about himself.
Such behaviour should bar him from running any company.
What does he think that potential suppliers think ? If Twitter was to ask me to do something I would demand payment in full before starting.
SonofRojBlake
Query: why compel arbitration?
My (very poor) understanding is that companies put these clauses in their contracts to compel employees with grievances to use a private arbitration service rather than taking the company to an actual court. I assume this is because, assuming you only dump a couple of employees a week or so, arbitration is cheaper (and more likely to favour the company paying the bills) than a court.
But if the company that insisted on arbitration is backing away from paying it - why try to force it? Why not say "Oh, you don't want the private arbitration? Court it is then."? Surely any employee walking into court with a grievance is on much stronger ground if their opening statement is along the lines of "I tried to address this issue via the company-contract-mandated arbitration scheme, but they welched on that, so here we are."
Is there ANYONE left at Twitter with any sense, or have I misunderstood something wildly?
Anonymous Coward
Not in Musk's office, that seems to be clear by now.
couru
Dissuasion. Make as many barriers to someone suing you - every obstacle you introduce is another opportunity for the plaintiff to say "oh fuck it, this isn't worth the effort" and give up.
" Twitter's owner must be taking a long weekend break as he hasn't tweeted since Sunday"
Nah, he's just been rate limited out.