The judge ruled that Twitter, now X, had breached the contract by withholding millions in pay bonuses

A federal judge ruled Friday that Twitter, now known as X, violated its contract with employees when it failed to pay millions in promised bonuses last year.

The company promised employees half of their potential bonuses before and after tech billionaire Elon Musk bought the company in 2022, but never paid them, according to the lawsuit.

Mark Schobinger, the company's then director of compensation, filed the lawsuit against the social media platform in June.

“Once Schobinger did what Twitter asked, Twitter’s offer to pay him a reward in return became a binding contract under California law,” District Judge Vince Chhabria said. books In opinion.

He added: “By refusing to pay the promised reward to Schöbinger, Twitter has violated this contract.”

The company argued that the bonus agreement was merely an oral promise and should not be paid under Texas law.

Instead, Chhabria bound the company to California law, which stipulated that the agreement was legally binding.

“All of Twitter’s opposing arguments fail,” Chhabria wrote.

X has faced multiple legal battles since Musk took over the company last year, including others over compensation, wrongful termination and discrimination claims.