Unexplained and illegal behavior of the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk against employees forced them to unite and file a class action lawsuit against the company. Elon Musk’s decision to lay off almost 3,700 people, or half the state, without prior notice, within days of acquiring the social network, caused a strong reaction. Workers in a class-action lawsuit filed late Thursday in federal court in San Francisco say they were told the layoffs were too late, in violation of federal and California law. Meanwhile, the news of the massive job cuts was not passed on to staff, as it should have been in the company, but via email. It stated that the reduction in the number of employees will begin yesterday Friday, while the company’s offices remained temporarily closed – and this was considered necessary until the clarification of the situation and the announcement, which was expected yesterday afternoon. Indeed, layoffs began yesterday. The eccentric and chaotic tycoon plans to “get rid” of the aforementioned employees as he wants to cut costs on the platform he acquired last month for $44 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said. In addition, Elon Musk has reduced employee vacations on Twitter. The email notice of termination read: “If you are going to the office, turn around and wait. Those who remain will be informed via company email, and those who will be fired will be informed via your personal email.”

Employees of the social network complain that they were informed about the layoffs too late, in violation of the law.

United States law, which applies nationwide, provides for early notice to workers before they are fired, as well as retraining to prevent large companies from making mass layoffs without at least 60 days’ notice. The lawsuit asks the court to issue an order obliging Twitter to comply with the aforementioned law and prohibiting the company from requiring employees to sign documents denying them their right to legal remedies. “We filed this lawsuit to ensure that the workers know that they do not have to sign such documents and that they have the opportunity to assert their rights,” said the lawyer leading the case, Shannon Lees-Riordan. The same lawyer sued Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, in June over similar claims after the electric car maker laid off about 10 percent of its workforce.

It’s worth pointing out that the climate in Twitter’s offices from San Francisco to Singapore is bad, because everyone lives with fear hanging over their heads, not knowing exactly who will be fired. Since taking over, billionaire Elon Musk has kept employees in the dark. According to several employees, he did not reach out to employees or lay out his plans for the future of the company, leaving them to browse message boards, news and tweets for any sign of their fate. Managers have been banned from communicating directly with staff, and workers have largely stopped posting on internal channels for fear of retaliation. Finally, many people are turning to encrypted messaging apps and the company’s dedicated Twitter feed on the Blind app, giving employees space to share information anonymously.