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Mark Schobinger, who was Twitter's senior director of
compensation before leaving Elon Musk's company in May, sued
Twitter in June, claiming breach of contract.
Schobinger's suit alleged that before and after billionaire Musk
bought Twitter last year, it promised employees 50% of their
2022 target bonuses but never made those payments.
In denying Twitter's motion to dismiss the case, U.S. District
Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that Schobinger plausibly stated a
breach of contract claim under California law and he was covered
by a bonus plan.
"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," the judge wrote.
X no longer has a media relations office. The company did not
immediately respond to a request for comment to its X account
outside business hours.
Twitter's lawyers argued that the company made only an oral
promise that was not a contract, and that Texas law should
govern the case, according to Courthouse News, which first
reported the ruling. The judge ruled that California law
governed the case and that "Twitter's contrary arguments all
fail."
X has been hit with numerous lawsuits by former employees and
executives since Musk bought the company and culled more than
half of its workforce.
The lawsuits make a range of claims, including that X
discriminated against older employees, women and workers with
disabilities, and failed to give advance notice of mass layoffs.
The company denies wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by William
Mallard)
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