Under the ownership of Elon Musk, Twitter has started to lay off staff members. Approximately 3,700 employees, or half of its workforce, could be let go by the San Francisco-based social media company on Friday, according to internal plans examined by Reuters this week. A class action lawsuit has already been filed against Twitter on the grounds that the impending layoffs will be illegal under US and California law if employees are not given early notice or severance pay.

Businesses with 100 or more employees are required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act to give 60 days' notice before initiating mass layoffs. According to the law, mass layoffs are those that affect at least 500 workers over the course of 30 days, or at least 50 workers if the layoffs affect at least one-third of a company's employment. Instead of giving notice, employers may offer 60 days of severance pay to employees.

If the WARN Act has been broken, a company may be required to pay 60 days' worth of back pay to employees who have been laid off. Additionally, the law mandates daily fines of $500 (about 41,000 rupees) for each infringement. Similar penalties are imposed by laws similar to those in California and other states.

According to the lawsuit, which was submitted late on Thursday to a federal court in San Francisco, Twitter locked out its employees' accounts on that day, indicating that they would soon lose their jobs. A California-based plaintiff who is one of the five listed plaintiffs claims he was fired on November 1 without warning or severance pay. If Twitter pays severance to employees who lose their employment, it's unclear at the time.

According to the lawsuit, the layoffs are against the WARN Act and a related California legislation. In exchange for meagre severance money, the plaintiffs claim that Twitter will urge employees who are being targeted for layoffs to sign releases relinquishing their right to sue.

In June, Tesla was sued in federal court in Texas on grounds that it had abruptly fired 500 employees from one of its Sparks, Nevada factories and so violated the WARN Act. Twitter employees who filed a lawsuit on Thursday are also represented by the Boston-based law firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, which is prosecuting that case.

An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by the company. Tesla has claimed that by removing underperforming employees and forgoing layoffs that required advance notice, it was merely 'right-sizing.'