Twitter Inc, the social media giant now operating as X Corp, is facing another legal setback as its former senior director of compensation, Mark Schobinger, has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court, accuses Twitter of breaching its contractual obligations by failing to pay millions of dollars in promised bonuses to its employees.
According to Schobinger, Twitter had assured its employees, both before and after Elon Musk’s acquisition last year, that they would receive 50 percent of their target bonuses for 2022. However, these payments were allegedly never made, leading to the breach of contract claims outlined in the lawsuit.
In an unconventional response, Twitter chose to employ a poop emoji instead of issuing a formal comment, leaving the interpretation of their stance open to speculation.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, Schobinger’s attorney, has a history of representing former Twitter employees in legal disputes. She is currently involved in several other lawsuits on behalf of ex-Twitter workers and is also handling approximately 2,000 individual arbitration cases arising from the mass layoffs ordered by Musk last year. These cases allege that Twitter failed to fulfill promised severance payments and engaged in discriminatory practices against female employees and workers with disabilities, among other claims. Twitter has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to these allegations.
In addition to employee-related disputes, Twitter has also faced legal action from landlords, vendors, and consultants who claim the company has failed to pay outstanding bills. Some of these financial obligations were inherited by Elon Musk when he acquired the company.
Furthermore, Twitter is confronting a separate lawsuit in Delaware filed by three former executives, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal. The executives allege that Twitter reneged on its obligation to reimburse them for over $1 million in legal fees incurred while responding to requests from government regulators.