Twitter has been hit with another lawsuit stemming from the recent purge of half its workforce, this one accusing the social media company of disproportionately targeting female employees for layoffs.
The proposed class action lawsuit filed Wednesday night in federal court in San Francisco said that after Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, took over Twitter, he fired 57% of its female workers compared to 47% of its male workers.
Twitter laid off around 3,700 employees in early November as part of a cost-cutting move by Musk, and hundreds more subsequently quit.
The gender disparity was steeper for engineering jobs, where 63% of women lost their jobs compared to 48% of men, according to the new lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed by two women who were fired by Twitter last month accuses the company of violating federal and California laws prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan said women “had targets on their backs” once Musk acquired the company, regardless of their talent and contributions.
Liss-Riordan is representing current and former Twitter employees in three other pending lawsuits filed in the same court since last month.
These cases include a variety of allegations, including that Twitter terminated employees and contractors without the notice required by law and failed to pay promised severance pay, and that Musk expelled workers with disabilities by refusing to work. allowing remote work and calling on employees to be more “hardcore.”
At least three workers have separately filed complaints against Twitter with the US National Labor Relations Board, claiming they faced retaliation for advocating for better working conditions.
Twitter denied wrongdoing in the lawsuit involving notice and did not respond to other complaints.