Court Approves Age Discrimination Lawsuit Against Twitter

A California court has given the green light for a lawsuit alleging that X, formerly known as Twitter, discriminated against older workers during its mass layoffs last year.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled on Tuesday that John Zeman, the plaintiff, provided sufficient evidence for the case to proceed. She pointed out that federal law prohibits age bias in the workplace and allows individuals to bring “disparate impact” claims to court.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Zeman alleges that X terminated 54% of workers under the age of 50 compared to 60% of workers over the age of 50 and nearly 75% of workers over the age of 60.

Despite the victory for Mr. Zeman, the judge dismissed one claim in the lawsuit that X intentionally targeted older workers in its layoffs.

After Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, he fired nearly 80% of the staff, decimating certain teams to single digits. The decision caused alienation among many and also triggered a wave of similar layoffs in the tech industry.