Twitter Accused of Failing to Pay Millions in Employee Bonuses After Musk Takeover

According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of employees, Twitter did not fulfill its commitment to pay annual bonuses to staff following its acquisition by Elon Musk, despite assurances made by executives prior to the deal’s completion.

The lawsuit, seeking class action status, was filed by former senior director of compensation Mark Schobinger and estimates that tens of millions of dollars are owed to a couple of thousand eligible employees who did not receive their 2022 bonuses.

Twitter, which has downsized its public relations team, did not provide a comment in response to CNN’s request.

Concerns were raised by many employees about the fate of their compensation and bonuses after Musk’s acquisition was announced, but company executives repeatedly assured them that the 2022 bonuses would be paid at 50% of the target, even after the acquisition was finalized.
However, the lawsuit claims that Twitter has failed to fulfill its promises, leading to Schobinger’s departure from the company last month due to its failure to pay the promised bonuses.

This lawsuit adds to a series of legal actions initiated by former Twitter employees after Musk’s acquisition resulted in an 80% reduction in staff to reduce costs.

Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents Schobinger, has previously filed proposed class action suits against Twitter on behalf of female employees and disabled employees. Another suit was filed by a group of former employees who accused Twitter of breaching contracts related to remote work and severance benefits following the acquisition.

Twitter has denied the breach of contract allegations in the remote work and severance lawsuit filed by former employees. The proposed class action suits on behalf of female and disabled employees were initially dismissed by federal judges but have since been refiled.