Twitter janitors in New York file lawsuit over firings and demand backpay

theguardian.com:

Former janitors at Twitter offices in New York City filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the social media company over their abrupt termination in December 2022 after billionaire Elon Musk took over the company and cut approximately 80% of staff.

The lawsuit alleges Twitter violated the Displaced Building Service Workers Protection Act by failing to retain the janitors after terminating the contract, hiring a new contractor, and not retaining the employees under the previous contract.

New York City’s Displaced Building Service Workers Protection Act requires new building owners, managers, contractors and commercial lessees to retain employees for a 90-day transition period and says they must be offered continued employment if their performance is considered satisfactory.

Janitors at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, who were also abruptly fired in December 2022, inspired the city of San Francisco to pass similar legislation in April 2023.

The lawsuit alleges the workers are owed “hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages” for violation of the law.

The union representing the workers, SEIU 32BJ, sent a request to Twitter in December 2022 advising the company of its obligation to retain the employees for a minimum of 90 days. The lawsuit alleges Twitter never responded.

“They’ve been out of work, their families are suffering, they’re suffering, it’s really a terrible situation and this is really the exact situation that law was designed to prevent,” said Hugh Baran, an attorney at Kakalec Law PLLC which is representing the workers in the lawsuit. “Twitter has had a lot of time and a lot of notice about the violations and they still refuse to come into compliance in any way. Our clients are really taking a very brave step