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A California federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by two former employees of X Corp. (formerly Twitter), who claimed that Elon Musk's takeover led to women disproportionately losing their jobs. However, U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar granted the workers another chance to amend their claims.

X Wins Dismissal of Sex Bias Suit : Lack of Specific Allegations

In his ruling on Monday, Judge Tigar granted X’s motion to dismiss without prejudice, citing insufficient details in the plaintiffs' claims of disparate treatment and disparate impact. Plaintiffs Carolina Bernal Strifling and Willow Wren Turkal did not provide adequate factual allegations to support their claim that they were laid off due to their gender, according to the judge.

"For example, the amended complaint does not allege anything about the comparative qualifications, experience, job performance, or abilities of any male employees who were not laid off to suggest that similarly situated men were treated more favorably," Judge Tigar said.

Additionally, the judge rejected the plaintiffs' arguments that statements made by Musk and statistical data suggested a pattern of discrimination. One of the more unusual allegations—Musk's decision to paint over the letter "W" in the "Twitter" sign—was also dismissed as irrelevant to the employment decisions.

Plaintiffs Given Opportunity to Amend

Judge Tigar provided Strifling and Turkal 21 days to file an amended complaint that better details their claims. While the workers say their job performances met the company's expectations, the court found they did not sufficiently allege that they were directly impacted by the layoffs, nor did they demonstrate that male employees were treated more favorably.

The workers' initial complaint claimed that women bore a heavier burden during the layoffs in November 2022, which followed Musk’s mandate for employees to work longer hours. Strifling, a senior client partner lead, and Turkal, a staff site reliability engineer, argued that women were disproportionately affected due to caregiving responsibilities.

X Wins Dismissal of Sex Bias Suit : Legal Battle Continues

Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan PC, representing the plaintiffs, expressed intent to amend the complaint and continue pursuing the case. "We are proud to be seeking justice for former Twitter employees whose rights were violated by Elon Musk in so many ways when he acquired the company in 2022," Liss-Riordan said.

The plaintiffs, who filed their suit in December 2022, are also involved in multiple other legal actions against X, including over 2,000 arbitration cases and a dozen class action suits.

X, represented by Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, argued that the workers failed to provide detailed reasons for their terminations or adequately compare their job performances to those who remained at the company. The company had also claimed the employees had not exhausted their administrative remedies before filing suit, but the court ruled that their right-to-sue notices from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission satisfied this requirement.