On Wednesday, September 14, 2022, Twilio, a San Francisco based software company, has announced that it will be conducting layoffs of 11% of its staff through an “anti-racist lens,” which would affect roughly 800 to 900 people. In a blog post announcing the layoffs, Twilio’s CEO Jeff Lawson states: “As you all know, we are committed to becoming an Anti-Racist/ Anti- Oppression company….Layoffs like this can have a more pronounced impact on marginalized communities, so we were particularly focused on ensuring our layoffs- while a business necessity today- were carried out through an Anti-Racist/ Anti-Oppression lens.”

It is unclear how many employees were from “marginalized communities” or what other criteria (if any) would be used to determine whether or not a Twilio employee will be laid off. What is interesting is the fact that anyone’s race was mentioned at all as a factor in making any type of determinations as to who will be or will not be laid off. Vague terms such as “marginalized communities,” “anti-racist,” and “anti-oppression” hint that race, ethnic background, color, and national origin of Twilio employees will be considered in making lay off determinations. The law specifically prohibits employers from doing this.

Both California law and federal law (California Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) prohibit the use of race, ethnicity, color, and national origin in making employment based decisions. In fact, an employer may be liable for discrimination if he uses race as a factor in making decisions on any of the following:

• hiring

• termination

• pay and benefits

• demotion

• promotion

• reinstatement

• training

• workplace opportunities.

Clearly, using race as a factor in determining whether or not someone will be laid off would be grounds for wrongful termination and discrimination based lawsuits.

In addition, the fact that Twilio specifically mentioned protecting “marginalized communities” is interesting because protecting one group necessarily means you are not protecting the other, i.e. non-marginalized communities. This is clearly favoring one group over another. Whether “marginalized communities” refers to the group’s race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, favoring one group over another is prohibited and is grounds for bringing discrimination claims.

Twilio, a relatively new company that started in 2008, may have set itself up for 800-900 wrongful termination and discrimination based lawsuits with one single blog post.

Employers should not publicly put themselves in bad positions like Twilio, and employees should not overlook blatant and obvious discrimination.

If you have been terminated recently by an employer and believe you were discriminated against, we can help you. Speak with one of our experienced employment attorneys today.