A federal judge ruled Friday that Twitter, now known as
The company promised its employees half of their potential bonuses both before and after tech billionaire Elon Musk bought the company in 2022, but never paid them out, the lawsuit says.
Mark Schobinger, then the company’s senior director of compensation, filed a lawsuit against the social media platform in June.
“Once Schobinger did what Twitter asked, Twitter’s offer to pay him a bonus in return became a binding contract under California law,” District Judge Vince Chhabria wrote in the opinion.
“And by allegedly refusing to pay Schobinger his promised bonus, Twitter has breached that contract,” he added.
The company argued that the bonus agreement was merely an oral commitment and could not be paid under Texas law.
Instead, Chhabria held the company to California law, which says the agreement is legally binding.
“Twitter’s arguments to the contrary all fail,” Chhabria wrote.
Since Musk took over the company last year, X has faced multiple legal battles, including other battles over compensation, wrongful termination and discrimination claims.
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