X, previously known as Twitter, is facing more than 2,200 arbitration claims from former employees since billionaire Elon Musk bought the company and swiftly fired most of its workforce, according to court documents filed Monday, the latest turmoil to hit the company as it pivots from social media into an “everything app.”
Lawyers for X revealed the arbitration figures in documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Delaware responding to a lawsuit from former employees alleging the company failed to pay promised severance and is stalling arbitration by not paying the fees needed to start the process.
Arbitration agreements—where disputes and legal claims are settled out of court—are an increasingly common condition of employment in the U.S. and aside from a limited filing fee most costs are usually shouldered by the employer.
The fee for each filing in the Twitter case would be $2,000, according to CNBC, citing the JAMS arbitration system, $400 of which would be the former employee’s responsibility.
X is delaying the arbitration process by not paying its share of the fees—around $3.5 million—the lawsuit claims, an account the company disputed in the latest filing.
The firm’s lawyers argued X does not have to pay its former workers’ filing fees as they are not required to settle disputes through arbitration, adding that they had written to those involved to tell them they were welcome to provide the fees themselves.