A federal judge in California dismissed a proposed class action accusing Twitter Inc of targeting female employees for layoffs following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company last year, but said plaintiffs could amend the lawsuit to add more details.
The lawsuit, filed in December, was “devoid of basic information,” according to U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in Oakland, such as the plaintiffs’ positions with Twitter and the identities of managers who decided which workers would be laid off.
Tigar also stated that allegedly sexist remarks made by Musk and cited by the plaintiffs were irrelevant because they occurred prior to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year.
Following the November layoffs, a different judge in the same court dismissed a separate lawsuit accusing Twitter of discriminating against workers with disabilities by requiring employees to report to the office and work long hours at high intensity.
Both judges gave the plaintiffs three weeks to file amended lawsuits that detailed their claims in greater detail.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in both cases, stated that she intends to file a revised complaint in each case, incorporating new facts.
Twitter did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
According to the plaintiffs in the sex discrimination lawsuit, after Musk took over, Twitter laid off 57% of its female employees compared to 47% of its male employees. According to the lawsuit, the disparity was even more pronounced in engineering jobs, where 63% of women lost their jobs compared to 48% of men.
The disability bias lawsuit was filed in November by a former engineering manager and cancer survivor who claims he was fired by Twitter after refusing to stop working remotely. Musk stated in a November memo to employees that they should be prepared to work “long hours at high intensity” or quit.
The lawsuits are among several that Twitter is facing as a result of Musk’s decision to lay off roughly half of the company’s employees.
Twitter has denied wrongdoing in those cases, including allegations that it failed to pay promised severance pay.
Liss-Riordan also represents nearly 2,000 former Twitter employees in arbitration proceedings against the company.
