In a surprising twist of events, a federal judge has ruled that X/Twitter breached its contracts with its employees by failing to pay them millions of dollars in bonuses that it had promised them.
According to Reuters, the case was brought by Mark Schobinger, who was Twitter’s senior director of compensation until he left the company in May to join Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Schobinger filed a lawsuit against X/Twitter in June, alleging that the company did not honor its commitment to pay its employees 50% of their 2022 target bonuses, which it had made before and after Musk acquired Twitter last year.
US District Judge Vince Chhabria rejected Twitter’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that Schobinger had a valid claim for breach of contract under California law and that he was eligible for the bonus plan. “Twitter’s offer to pay Schobinger a bonus in exchange for his performance became a binding contract under California law once Schobinger performed as Twitter requested. And by purportedly refusing to pay Schobinger the bonus it promised him, Twitter breached that contract,” the judge wrote in his ruling.
X/Twitter and its lawyers had argued that the company only made a verbal promise that was not enforceable and that Texas law should apply to the case.
Meta faces fine in Italy for violating gambling ban
Meanwhile, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is also facing legal troubles in Italy for violating a ban on the advertising of gambling.
Meta has been fined €5.85 million ($6.45 million) by the Italian communications regulator AGCOM for allowing profiles and accounts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as sponsored content, to promote betting or games with cash prizes, AGCOM said in a statement on Friday.
This is not the first time that Meta has been penalized for breaking the gambling ban. Earlier this month, AGCOM also fined YouTube (€2.25 million) and Twitch (€900,000) for similar violations.”