Women sue Elon Musk's Twitter, claiming job cuts disproportionately targeted female staff

Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media networking site Twitter, which was then followed by numerous erratic decisions made by the Tesla CEO, is now hitting him like a boomerang. Musk’s first move to conduct mass layoffs in the organisation has caused displeasure to many. On Wednesday, two former female employees, who lost their jobs following the Twitter takeover by Musk filed a lawsuit against the Space X CEO. In the lawsuit filed at the San Francisco Federal Court,  the two former employees claimed that the company “disproportionately targeted” the Twitter female staff while conducting mass layoffs. 

The plaintiffs claim that the discriminatory behavior by Musk’s Twitter is violating the federal and Californian laws that ban discrimination based on sex at the workplace. According to The Guardian, the lawsuit claimed that out of all the employees that were fired from the organization, 57% were women employees compared with 47% were men who were fired from the organisation. The figures became even worse in the engineering department. The Guardian reported that the plaintiffs are claiming that 63% of the Twitter female staff in engineering roles lost their jobs the figures for men were mere 48%. Last month, after the new Twitter head Elon Musk shared a group photograph following a team meeting at Twitter, the lack of women in the picture made netizens quip, “Where are the women?” Hence the recent allegations made in the lawsuit can become a matter of worry for the Tesla CEO since he is already engulfed with many lawsuits alleging unfair practices in the organisation. 

'I have a family, I have a kid to support' : A plaintiff shares her plight

It was in October when Musk formally acquire the social media networking giant Twitter. What followed was a bunch of erratic decisions made by the new owner. In an effort to cut costs, around 3,700 employees were fired, and the mayhem of mass layoffs was followed by hundreds resigning from the organisation. Speaking of the lawsuit, Lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, the lawyer of the two plaintiffs, claimed at a press conference, “It’s not a huge surprise unfortunately that women were hit so hard by these layoffs when Elon Musk was overseeing these incredibly ad hoc layoffs just in a matter of days.”

Wren Turkal, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, expresses the struggles she is facing after she was fired from Twitter, she said, “I have a family, I have a kid to support". She then went on to add, “All that we’re looking for is fairness. I’m also worried about my friends who are financially in a difficult position or are in a difficult position for visa reasons". Liss-Riordan, another lawyer, claims that she is representing current and former Twitter employees in "three other pending lawsuits." According to the Guardian, Musk’s Twitter is also facing numerous other lawsuits filed by former employees of the firm.