Twitter violated contract by failing to pay millions in bonuses, U.S. judge rules

Twitter
violated
contracts
by
failing
to
pay
millions
of
dollars
in
bonuses
that
the
social
media
company,
now
called
X
Corp,
had
promised
its
employees,
a
federal
judge
ruled
on
Friday.

Mark
Schobinger,
who
was
Twitter’s
senior
director
of
compensation
before
leaving
Elon
Musk’s
company
in
May, sued
Twitter in
June,
claiming
breach
of
contract.

Schobinger’s
suit
alleged
that
before
and
after
billionaire
Musk
bought
Twitter
last
year,
it
promised
employees
50%
of
their
2022
target
bonuses
but
never
made
those
payments.

In
denying
Twitter’s
motion
to
dismiss
the
case,
U.S.
District
Judge
Vince
Chhabria ruled that
Schobinger
plausibly
stated
a
breach
of
contract
claim
under
California
law
and
he
was
covered
by
a
bonus
plan.

“Once
Schobinger
did
what
Twitter
asked,
Twitter’s
offer
to
pay
him
a
bonus
in
return
became
a
binding
contract
under
California
law.
And
by
allegedly
refusing
to
pay
Schobinger
his
promised
bonus,
Twitter
violated
that
contract,”
the
judge
wrote.

X
no
longer
has
a
media
relations
office.
The
company
did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment
to
its
X
account
outside
business
hours.

Twitter’s
lawyers
argued
that
the
company
made
only
an
oral
promise
that
was
not
a
contract,
and
that
Texas
law
should
govern
the
case,
according
to
Courthouse
News,
which
first
reported
the
ruling.
The
judge
ruled
that
California
law
governed
the
case
and
that
“Twitter’s
contrary
arguments
all
fail.”

X
has
been
hit
with numerous
lawsuits by
former
employees
and
executives
since
Musk
bought
the
company
and
culled
more
than
half
of
its
workforce.

The
lawsuits
make
a
range
of
claims,
including
that
X
discriminated
against
older
employees,
women
and
workers
with
disabilities,
and
failed
to
give
advance
notice
of
mass
layoffs.
The
company
denies
wrongdoing.