A California judge dismissed a lawsuit targeting X owner Elon Musk, saying the court didn’t have proper jurisdiction to rule on the case.
San Francisco U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson ruled Tuesday that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act doesn’t cover the plaintiff’s claims.
The complaint, lodged by several former Twitter employees fired by Mr. Musk when he took over the platform in late 2022, alleged that he failed to deliver millions of dollars in severance pay to fired workers.
According to the plaintiffs, Twitter’s severance plan provided workers fired after a buyout with two to six months of pay and one week of pay for each year the employee spent at the company.
According to Judge Thompson, the ERISA doesn’t apply because Twitter, which became X, had no apparatus to review severance claims and didn’t offer continued health coverage.
Tuesday’s ruling ends one of many lawsuits accusing Mr. Musk and Twitter of breaking promises after the takeover.
Earlier this year, former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other executives sued Mr. Musk for $128 million in unpaid severance.
Mr. Musk’s X has also been accused of failing to pay its landlords at several of its offices and has other workplace discrimination lawsuits pending.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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