X, formerly known as Twitter, violated contracts when it failed to pay millions of dollars in bonuses promised to its employees, a federal judge ruled on Friday.
Mark Schobinger, former senior director of compensation of Twitter, sued the company in June, claiming breach of contract.
According to Schobinger’s suit, before and after billionaire Elon Musk bought the company last year, it promised employees 50 percent of their 2022 target bonuses.
However, these promises were never fulfilled.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Schobinger plausibly stated a breach of contract claim under California law.
“Once Schobinger did what Twitter asked, Twitter’s offer to pay him a bonus in return became a binding contract under California law. And by allegedly refusing to pay Schobinger his promised bonus, Twitter violated that contract,” Chhabria wrote.
However, the company argued that it has only made an oral promise and that there was no contract.
The judge ruled that “Twitter’s contrary arguments all fail.”
X has been facing a huge number of lawsuits, including discrimination against older employees, women, and workers with disabilities.
The company was also accused of failing to give advance notice of mass layoffs.
