Lauren Teukolsky was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article last week unpacking a wave of ongoing litigation prompted by Elon Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter.

The layoffs began in early November, following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant. After taking over, Musk proceeded to fire half of Twitter’s workforce, asked some essential employees to return, rolled back its expansive work-from-home policy, and called on the remaining employees to sign a pledge to remain at an “extremely hardcore” Twitter or quit.

Musk’s actions have prompted many of Twitter’s recently laid-off employees to pursue class action lawsuits against the company alleging violations of the Worker Readjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, a federal law, and its California equivalent, among other allegations. This, in turn, has led Twitter to require some employees to sign a release of legal claims against the company at the risk of not receiving severance pay, according to an amended complaint recently filed by ex-Twitter workers. Ex-Twitter workers have responded to Twitter’s move by requesting a protective order blocking the company from soliciting such releases and nullifying any it has already obtained.

The article states:

“The workers’ Nov. 9 request is based on a well-developed body of federal law analogous to the state law standards developed after a California appellate court’s 2009 ruling in Chindarah v. Pick Up Stix, Inc., said Lauren Teukolsky, a plaintiffs’ attorney with Teukolsky Law PC.

‘Many cases since Pick Up Stix have found releases to be invalid where the employer engaged in coercive or misleading tactics,’ Teukolsky said.”
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To read the article in its entirety, click here.
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If you have been affected by recent developments at Twitter, click here to get in touch with Teukolsky Law. 

Lauren Teukolsky’s “Wage and Hour Case Notes” were published in the November 2022 edition of the California Labor and Employment Law Review, describing six new decisions from California and U.S. appellate courts that affect wage-and-hour law. The column discusses summary judgment standards governing suitable seating cases, reverse auctions in PAGA cases, PAGA lawsuits following the settlement of individual Labor Code claims, and federal class certification standards.

Wage-and-hour law is a dynamic field, with new appellate decisions that regularly reshape the legal landscape.  Ms. Teukolsky is an expert in California wage-and-hour law and federal wage-and-hour law, and speaks frequently on wage-and-hour topics at national and state conferences. Her “Wage and Hour Case Notes” are published on a quarterly basis by the California Lawyers Association.

To read Ms. Teukolsky’s article in its entirety, click here. If you would like to consult with Ms. Teukolsky on a wage-and-hour matter, use this page to get in touch.

An article by Lauren Teukolsky was published in the November 2022 issue of the California Labor & Employment Law Review. In the article, Ms. Teukolsky discusses the history of Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana, a recently-decided U.S. Supreme Court case that has been closely monitored by worker’s advocates and corporate counsel alike. The article was co-authored with Michael Rubin, a renowned employment law attorney who represented Ms. Moriana before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The article discusses the legal strategies used at the Supreme Court, what was (and wasn’t) decided in Viking, and why California trial courts have almost uniformly refused to be bound by the majority’s state-law-based holding in Part IV of the decision.
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Ms. Teukolsky has fought to protect employee’s rights for over 20 years and is an expert in employment law. She recently discussed Viking in a pair of panels hosted by the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and the California Employment Lawyers Association. Her commentary on the Supreme Court case was also featured in an article by Bloomberg Law.

The California Labor & Employment Law Review is an official publication of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) Labor and Employment Law Section. CLA is a nonprofit, voluntary bar association serving thousands of licensed attorneys throughout California.

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