A former Twitter employee who was laid off while six months pregnant said she plans to sue the Elon Musk-led company over her firing.
Shennan Lu, a former data science manager at Twitter, was one of thousands of workers who were caught off guard last week as Musk began slashing jobs. She blasted Twitter’s handling of the situation in a series of tweets that have since been deleted – along with her entire account.
“My Twitter journey has come to an end, I got laid off while I’m 6-month pregnant. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you. I’m very thankful to lead such an amazing [data science] team, it’s been a fun ride. #LoveWhereYouWorked,” Lu tweeted in a now-deleted post, according to Insider.
“There is definitely discrimination here. So I will fight. My performance has been tracking ahead (top 30%) for the last quarters, and I know for a fact that other male managers don’t have this rating got stayed,” Lu added. “See you in the court.”
Lu’s Twitter handle currently displays the message, “this account doesn’t exist.” It’s unclear if she deleted the account or if it was taken offline.
Lu’s posts prompted intense scrutiny before they disappeared.
“Hey @elonmusk, please consider that it’s stories like this that has advertisers fleeing Twitter. No outside pressure groups required,” one user wrote in response to the thread.
The Post has reached out to Twitter and to Lu for comment on the situation.
Lu began working at Twitter last January. Prior to joining the company, she held similar roles at Facebook parent Meta and Comcast.
As The Post reported, many laid-off Twitter employees used the platform last week to announce they had lost their jobs. Rachel Bonn, a former marketing manager at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, said she lost laptop access and was laid off despite being eight months pregnant.
A group of impacted Twitter employees has already filed suit against the company, alleging Musk’s team failed to provide adequate notice before implementing the layoffs.
Musk defended his decision to conduct the sweeping layoffs last week – arguing he had no choice but to make cuts due to Twitter’s precarious financial situation.
“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”
Meanwhile, Twitter has reportedly attempted to reverse course on some layoffs that were made in error or that impacted workers deemed too essential to the company’s operations. The embattled firm is purportedly asking those employees if they’re willing to return.