In a recent ruling, a judge has ordered laid-off Twitter workers to drop their class action lawsuit against the company seeking better severance packages.
The suit, which was filed by 14 former employees in 2016, sought to force the company to provide laid-off workers with enhanced severance payments in line with industry standards. Currently, Twitter provides a 90-day severance package to laid-off employees, a popular practice in the tech industry.
The suit argued that since Twitter was worth billions of dollars a year, it should offer severance packages that are more generous in terms of money and other benefits. In essence, the suit argued that Twitter should provide better severance benefits to its laid-off workers given its financial success and rapidly growing roster of tech employees.
However, after the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the suit in May, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has now ruled against the former employees, sending the dispute back to district court for a full trial.
The court’s ruling does not come as a surprise, as the case hinged on whether or not the former workers in the suit could represent the entire class of laid-off employees. The court found that the workers did not have sufficient commonality between them, thus could not be represented by the case.
The decision is a major setback for those seeking to get fairer severance packages from their former employers. However, the decision does not mean that the fight is over, as the former workers have a right to appeal the ruling. Additionally, other tech companies should take note of the ruling, as the tech industry is often criticized for providing insufficient severance packages to those it lays off.
It remains to be seen whether the former workers will appeal the ruling or if other tech companies will take the case to court in their own attempts to get better severance packages for their laid off workers. Until then, the decision serves as a reminder that the fight for better severance packages is an uphill battle.