Suit against X, formerly Twitter, over unpaid bonuses can proceed: judge
Twitter, in which workers claim that the company promised but never paid millions of dollars in bonuses.
In June, Mark Schobinger, a former senior director of compensation for Twitter who lives in Texas, sued the company, claiming breach of contract under California law. The company has its headquarters in San Francisco.
Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses
Offering CollegeCourseWebsiteMITMIT Technology Leadership and InnovationVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Senior Management ProgrammeVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK Advanced Data Science For ManagersVisit Schobinger said that both before and after billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter last year, the company had orally promised employees 50% of their 2022 targeted bonuses if they stayed with the company in the first quarter of 2023. However, the bonuses were never paid, according to the suit.
Schobinger filed the suit on his own behalf and on behalf of nearly 2,000 other current and former workers. The amount in dispute is greater than $5 million, according to court records.
In a three-page opinion denying the company's motion to dismiss the case, Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Schobinger had «plausibly stated a breach of contract claim» under California law.
Schobinger maintained that he was covered by the bonus plan and that he had stayed with the company through the final possible payout date.
«Once Schobinger did what Twitter asked, Twitter's offer to pay him a bonus in return became a binding contract under California law,» the judge wrote. «And by allegedly refusing to pay Schobinger his promised bonus, Twitter violated that contract.»
Lawyers for the company had argued that the performance
