Elon Musk has won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming he refused to pay at least $500 million of severance to thousands of Twitter employees he fired in mass layoffs after buying the social media company now known as X.
US District Judge Trina Thompson in San Francisco, California, ruled on Tuesday that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act governing benefit plans did not cover the former employees' claims, and therefore she lacked jurisdiction.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Mr Musk's lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
Elon Musk over the years – in pictures
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Jared Kushner and Elon Musk watch the Fifa World Cup final match between Argentina and France. Getty Images -
Mr Musk attends model and businesswoman Heidi Klum's 2022 Halloween party at Moxy Lower East Side, in New York City Getty -
Mr Musk on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot in Palo Alto, California, in September 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing 'Cyber Rodeo' grand opening party, in Austin, Texas, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk shakes hands with Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in 2022 AFP -
Mr Musk attends the start of the production at Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2022 AFP -
Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Mr Musk as Wario during the 'Wario' sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in 2021 Getty -
Mr Musk and son X Æ A-12 onstage at 'Time' Person of the Year in New York, in 2021 AFP -
Mr Musk dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, in 2021 Reuters -
Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, at the time CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2021 Getty -
Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, in 2020 EPA -
Mr Musk leaves a New York court in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Getty -
A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019 Reuters -
Mr Musk and then partner Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018 AFP -
From left, Mr Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky at the White House, in 2017 AFP -
Mr Musk presents his plan to colonise Mars at the International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 EPA -
Mr Musk with then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015 Reuters -
Mr Musk with then wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in London Getty -
Mr Musk after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010 Reuters -
Then US president Barack Obama with Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010 Reuters -
Mr Musk in the Tesla Roadster electric car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, in 2009 Reuters -
Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones at the Tesla Roadster launch party in 2008 AFP -
Mr Musk answers questions about the new Tesla Model S all-electric car, at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in 2009 AFP -
Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2008. Getty -
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2004 Getty
The case is one of many accusing Mr Musk of reneging on promises to former Twitter employees, including former chief executive Parag Agrawal, and vendors after buying the company for $44 billion in October 2022.
Mr Musk also runs the electric car company Tesla, and is one of the world's richest people, according to Forbes magazine.
According to the complaint, Twitter's 2019 severance plan called for employees who stayed on after the buyout to receive two or six months of pay, plus one week of pay for each year of employment, if they were laid off.
The plaintiffs Courtney McMillian, who oversaw Twitter's compensation and benefits, and Ronald Cooper, an operations manager, said Twitter instead offered fired employees one month of pay as severance, with no benefits.
Ms Thompson said the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (Erisa) did not apply to Twitter's post-buyout plan because there was no “ongoing administrative scheme” in which the company reviewed claims case by case or offered benefits such as continued health insurance and outplacement services.
“There were only cash payments promised,” she wrote.
The judge said the plaintiffs could try amending their complaint, but only for claims not governed by Erisa.
