Elon and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad legal week
- Reference: 1709248509
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/29/x_tesla_employee_lawsuits/
- Source link:
Documents filed in two cases against X in Delaware – [1]one [PDF] by a group of [2]six former Twitter staffers and [3]another [PDF] by a class of laid off employees who say X owes them $500 million in unpaid severance benefits – indicate the cases could soon go to trial.
Both cases are being heard by Judge Jennifer Hall of the US District Court for Delaware and were put on hold in December pending settlement negotiations. According to documents filed by lawyers for both sides, those efforts have failed and none of the parties want an extension to continue negotiating.
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Instead, X's lawyers are asking the judge to reconsider motions for dismissal in both cases. If the judge denies those motions, the cases will move to discovery, and then on to trial.
[5]
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This is not the only case in which former Twitter employees have claimed Musk did not pay promised settlements after [7]widespread layoffs . A similar case was [8]filed in California shortly before the Delaware class action and alleges a $500 million severance shortfall. Other cases alleging improper layoffs at Twitter involved the ex-bird [9]violating WARN Act requirements and [10]layoff discrimination .
Then-Twitter was also reportedly trying to push disgruntled former employees into arbitration talks instead of court. Employees have since accused Twitter of [11]delaying those arbitration talks.
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X has also been sued by [13]consultants and contractors alleging it never paid them, and by executives who allege the company [14]refused to reimburse legal expenses incurred as a result of employment at Twitter.
Meanwhile, at Tesla's discrimination suit-plagued Fremont factory
Tesla's Fremont assembly plant has a long history of discrimination and harassment complaints, and now it's facing one from nearly 6,000 employees.
Cases accusing Tesla's Fremont employees of discrimination against Black employees are nothing new. Former Fremont employee DeWitt Lambert [15]sued Tesla for discrimination at the plant, [16]as did former contractor Owen Diaz. The US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission even filed a [17]lawsuit against Tesla for racist behavior at the Fremont plant, alleging last year that such behavior was "frequent, ongoing … and occurred across all shifts, departments and positions."
[18]Lawsuit: We've got the stats to prove Twitter ax fell unfairly on older, female engineers
[19]X Corp is now suing a sublessee for unpaid rent
[20]Tesla ran over worker rights, again, US labor judge finds
[21]Tesla lawsuit alleges unlawful layoffs at Nevada gigafactory
This week's developments involve yet another discrimination lawsuit.
Filed in California's Alameda County Superior Court 2017 by lead plaintiff Marcus Vaughn, Tesla already [22]tried and failed to push the case into arbitration, and now Judge Noël Wise has decided the case can proceed as a class action. Included in the lawsuit are any Fremont employees who've worked at the factory since 2016 and self-identify as Black, of which there are [23]reportedly 5,977.
Wise [24]reportedly said that the matters in question in the lawsuit are common to all Black workers at the plant and could lead to millions in penalties if Tesla is found guilty of the charges. The car maker has [25]described the case as a "hotbed of misinformation" and insists it is "absolutely against any form of discrimination, harassment, or unfair treatment of any kind."
The legal record begs to differ, especially given Diaz won his lawsuit.
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Neither Tesla nor X responded to questions for this story. ®
Get our [27]Tech Resources
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/02/29/x-twitter-execs-jsr.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/twitter_staff_sue_musk/
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/02/29/x-woodfield-jsr.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZeFg@2W47fMNOW@9pnRMggAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZeFg@2W47fMNOW@9pnRMggAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZeFg@2W47fMNOW@9pnRMggAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/twitter_latest_layoffs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/13/twitter_lawsuit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/05/more_twitter_lawsuits/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/10/twitter_sued_stats_discrimination/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/05/twitter_arbitrations_lawsuit/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZeFg@2W47fMNOW@9pnRMggAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/23/twitter_consultant_lawsuit/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/11/former_execs_sue_twitter/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/28/tesla_staff_racist_claims_employee/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/tesla_racism_payout/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/29/eeoc_sues_tesla_for_racist/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/10/twitter_sued_stats_discrimination/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/02/x_sues_sublessee/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/28/us_labor_board_tesla/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/21/tesla_unlawful_layoffs_lawsuit/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/05/tesla_discrimination_lawsuit/
[23] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/tesla-faces-5-977-black-workers-in-factory-racism-lawsuit?leadSource=reddit_wall
[24] https://www.reuters.com/legal/tesla-must-face-class-action-claims-by-6000-workers-race-bias-case-2024-02-29/
[25] https://www.tesla.com/blog/hotbed-misinformation
[26] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZeFg@2W47fMNOW@9pnRMggAAABY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Get with the program “Elon” ..
Sure, sure he's fighting for us the little people but the evil lizard illuminati are trying to take him down.
Re: Get with the program “Elon” ..
10 REM The Elon Program (c) 2024 All Rights Reserved
20
30 IF NARCISSISM > 0 THEN GOTO 90
40
50 ELSE PRINT "It's not about me? That can't be right!"
60
70 GOTO 100
80
90 PRINT "Someone did something I don't like!? SUE THEM!"
100
Eye sight
I read that as "Elon and the terrible, horrible
Must get my eyes checked
I Hope that the Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™ Experiences Karma
Seriously, he's one of the worst, and stupidest, people in the world.
Odd, isn't it?
That Musk keeps promising that his car will drive themselves while his factories rely on large numbers of humans.
-A.
What is it with these hard-right muppets?
Stiffing people, not paying bills, talking utter shite, discrimination, attention whoring.
No wonder they get rich.
Re: What is it with these hard-right muppets?
@Winky*. what is this right you speak of ? Looks like the usual stiff the peasants by the wealthy to me. Terms right and left have become meaningless IMHO. Choices are between self appointed, usually at taxpayers expense, bureaucracies who dress differently but both want to micromanage everyones lives, both want a populace infested by Maos "self criticism " to keep dissent uncertain and weak. All want unaccountable power because the high priesthood leaders know best.
Re: What is it with these hard-right muppets?
In a saner time, Elon would be recognised as a classic American robber baron in the mould of Jay Gould. Politics is secondary to him. It's just a means to an end. So "hard right" isn't really a fair description.
But it's a mistake to try to see all rich and powerful people as "the same". They're as different from each other as the rest of us.
Re: What is it with these hard-right muppets?
No. They have money and power. We are different as we lack those attributes.
Even worse
There's reports of Boring tunnels being contaminated with some kind of sludge that is burning the skin of employees, and has left permanent scars on at least one or two employees. This has attracted the attention of OSHA... in Nevada, so you know it's got to be pretty bad. And of course the employees who reported it requested anonymity fearing retaliation, which seems about right given Xitler's history.
A forklift fell down a hill in May, nearly crushing its driver, Bloomberg reported. According to Fortune, the Boring Company reported 36 injuries across its job sites in the first six months of 2023, including heat exhaustion, head contusions and a crushed hand or elbow.
The chemical sludge in the tunnels appears to have been a particularly pervasive risk. Photos and video in both reports show an ankle-high, stagnant pool of brown liquid in the incomplete tunnels. Bloomberg reported that chemical accelerants arrived in long hoses to help grout set in the tunnels, but often ending up mixing with the dirt and water on the floor. Workers routinely walked through the liquid, and sometimes it splattered up past their boots and even onto their faces, according to Bloomberg.
According to worker testimony in the reports, the polluted liquid hurt — badly. As one worker told Bloomberg, “You’d be like, ‘Why am I on fire?’”
“I’ve had accelerant in my face, in my eyes, in my mouth. I’ve thrown up from it,” an employee told Fortune, later adding, “All the electricians at some point were burned by chemicals.”
The picture in the article is worth looking at. You'd be excused for thinking that was a sewer line.
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/boring-company-vegas-chemical-sludge-18693769.php
Then, over at Neuralink, the FDA found multiple serious issues with the animal research lab, such as missing documents.
The laboratory problems identified by FDA inspectors included missing calibration records for instruments such as a pH meter used in one of the studies. For another study, seven instruments including a "vital signs monitor" had no record of having been calibrated. Neuralink conducted experiments on hundreds of animals, including monkeys.
Other issues included quality assurance officials not signing off on the final study report or documenting any deviations from approved protocols or standard operating procedures.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-finds-problems-animal-lab-run-by-musks-brain-implant-company-2024-02-29/
And then also at Xitter, the attempt to sue Center for Countering Digital Hate because they pointed out that Xitter was serving up ads alongside Nazi and other deplorable content, causing an advertiser stampede for the exit, doesn't seem to be going too well.
X is seeking damages from the center, arguing that the platform lost tens of millions of dollars from advertisers fleeing the site in the wake of the nonprofit's findings.
But in order to make this case, X had to show the group knew the financial loss was "foreseeable" when it started its account and began abiding by Twitter's terms of service, in 2019, before Musk acquired the site.
X lawyer Hawk argued that the platform's terms of service state that the rules for the site could change at any time, including that suspended users whom the group says spread hate speech could be reinstated.
And so, Hawk said, if changes to the rules were foreseeable, then the financial loss from its reports on users spreading hate should have also been foreseeable.
This logic confused and frustrated the judge.
"That, of course, reduces foreseeability to one of the most vapid extensions of law I've ever heard," Breyer said.
To be a fly on the wall in the judge's chambers after that hearing.
https://www.kyuk.org/2024-02-29/judge-skeptical-of-lawsuit-brought-by-elon-musks-x-over-hate-speech-research
Get with the program “Elon” ..
Get with the program “Elon” .. and all your legal woes will evaporate.