Elon Musk failed to give laid-off Twitter employees previously promised severance packages, lawsuit alleges
mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh) - 8h ago
Laid-off Twitter employees are suing the company saying they were promised a range of severance benefits.
The lawsuit says they were assured these benefits would hold after Elon Musk bought Twitter.
However, recently laid-off employees say Twitter reneged on the promised severance pay.
Laid-off Twitter employees suing the social media platform say the company — now owned by Elon Musk — reneged on previously promised severance benefits.
Five employees — who filed a class-action suit against Twitter on November 1 — now say they were promised at least two month's severance pay, bonus plan compensation, cash value of vested Twitter equity, and healthcare coverage, but these promises were not kept when Musk laid off about 3,700 staffers on November 4.
Since his $44 billion deal to buy the social network closed in October, Musk has introduced a contentious update to Twitter's verification process, laid off 50% of the company's staff, and reportedly reversed those layoffs for some workers.
The site joins a growing list of companies tied to the world's richest man, who leads multiple massive organizations. Over the past five decades, Musk has become the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, founder of The Boring Company, and cofounder of OpenAI and Neuralink, all while focused on his long-term goal: escaping Earth and colonizing Mars.
It hasn't always been a smooth road for Musk — he almost went broke more than once and incited lawsuits and government scrutiny.
Here's how he became one of the most divisive figures in the business world.
The fresh allegations were made in updated court filings to the San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, which were also seen by Insider.
According to the Tuesday update, Twitter's management previously said at several all-hands meetings, wrote in a recent FAQ, and stated in a merger agreement that employees would get at least the equivalent of the originally promised package if they were laid off after Musk acquired the company.
Twitter employees "reasonably relied" on this promise in the weeks leading up to Musk's purchase and chose not to look for jobs elsewhere, the lawsuit shows.
However, Twitter later told employees affected by November's mass layoffs that they would only get one month's base pay after their termination, the updated lawsuit alleged.
This claim appears to contrast a November 4 tweet from Musk, which said that all exited employees were offered three months' severance.
Musk has worked every day to find new ways to screw over Twitter staff, attorney says
In response to queries from Insider, Shannon Liss-Riordan — the attorney who filed the lawsuit — said Musk is counting an extra two months of severance pay because some workers were told on November 4 that they would be laid off in two months' time.
These employees, which include three of the plaintiffs, were locked out of their company accounts on November 3, but were told they would be paid until January 4, 2023, their lawsuit said.
"This pay is not severance pay," Liss-Riordan wrote in the lawsuit, accusing Musk of using this period of payment only to comply with federal and state labor laws. The WARN Act, or the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, is a federal law that requires businesses with 100 or more employees to give 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs or other work disruptions.
Liss-Riordan filed an emergency motion on behalf of the five employees on Wednesday evening. It seeks to compel Twitter to tell laid-off employees about the pending lawsuit before it can reach any separation agreements with workers.
The motion accused Twitter of trying to get employees to release all claims on their compensation benefits in exchange for their one month of severance pay.
"Since taking control of Twitter just two weeks ago, it seems Elon Musk has worked every day to find new and creative ways to screw over the company's workers," Liss-Riordan said in a statement to Insider. "This emergency motion that we just filed is an effort to protect the employees Twitter is laying off from signing away their rights to get what they are owed by the company."
Twitter's former top four executives — Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and Sarah Personette — stood to gain a collective $88 million from being fired by Musk. On October 31, Musk denied reports that he fired the top executives "for cause" in order to avoid giving them hefty severance payouts.
Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, which was sent after-hours. Twitter's no longer employs its communications department.
mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh) - 8h ago
Laid-off Twitter employees are suing the company saying they were promised a range of severance benefits.
The lawsuit says they were assured these benefits would hold after Elon Musk bought Twitter.
However, recently laid-off employees say Twitter reneged on the promised severance pay.
Laid-off Twitter employees suing the social media platform say the company — now owned by Elon Musk — reneged on previously promised severance benefits.
Five employees — who filed a class-action suit against Twitter on November 1 — now say they were promised at least two month's severance pay, bonus plan compensation, cash value of vested Twitter equity, and healthcare coverage, but these promises were not kept when Musk laid off about 3,700 staffers on November 4.
Since his $44 billion deal to buy the social network closed in October, Musk has introduced a contentious update to Twitter's verification process, laid off 50% of the company's staff, and reportedly reversed those layoffs for some workers.
The site joins a growing list of companies tied to the world's richest man, who leads multiple massive organizations. Over the past five decades, Musk has become the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, founder of The Boring Company, and cofounder of OpenAI and Neuralink, all while focused on his long-term goal: escaping Earth and colonizing Mars.
It hasn't always been a smooth road for Musk — he almost went broke more than once and incited lawsuits and government scrutiny.
Here's how he became one of the most divisive figures in the business world.
The fresh allegations were made in updated court filings to the San Francisco federal court on Tuesday, which were also seen by Insider.
According to the Tuesday update, Twitter's management previously said at several all-hands meetings, wrote in a recent FAQ, and stated in a merger agreement that employees would get at least the equivalent of the originally promised package if they were laid off after Musk acquired the company.
Twitter employees "reasonably relied" on this promise in the weeks leading up to Musk's purchase and chose not to look for jobs elsewhere, the lawsuit shows.
However, Twitter later told employees affected by November's mass layoffs that they would only get one month's base pay after their termination, the updated lawsuit alleged.
This claim appears to contrast a November 4 tweet from Musk, which said that all exited employees were offered three months' severance.
Musk has worked every day to find new ways to screw over Twitter staff, attorney says
In response to queries from Insider, Shannon Liss-Riordan — the attorney who filed the lawsuit — said Musk is counting an extra two months of severance pay because some workers were told on November 4 that they would be laid off in two months' time.
These employees, which include three of the plaintiffs, were locked out of their company accounts on November 3, but were told they would be paid until January 4, 2023, their lawsuit said.
"This pay is not severance pay," Liss-Riordan wrote in the lawsuit, accusing Musk of using this period of payment only to comply with federal and state labor laws. The WARN Act, or the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, is a federal law that requires businesses with 100 or more employees to give 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs or other work disruptions.
Liss-Riordan filed an emergency motion on behalf of the five employees on Wednesday evening. It seeks to compel Twitter to tell laid-off employees about the pending lawsuit before it can reach any separation agreements with workers.
The motion accused Twitter of trying to get employees to release all claims on their compensation benefits in exchange for their one month of severance pay.
"Since taking control of Twitter just two weeks ago, it seems Elon Musk has worked every day to find new and creative ways to screw over the company's workers," Liss-Riordan said in a statement to Insider. "This emergency motion that we just filed is an effort to protect the employees Twitter is laying off from signing away their rights to get what they are owed by the company."
Twitter's former top four executives — Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and Sarah Personette — stood to gain a collective $88 million from being fired by Musk. On October 31, Musk denied reports that he fired the top executives "for cause" in order to avoid giving them hefty severance payouts.
Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, which was sent after-hours. Twitter's no longer employs its communications department.
Musk Reportedly Bans Remote Work At Twitter And Warns Of ‘Difficult Times’ In Internal Email
Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff - Yesterday
Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff - Yesterday
Topline
Twitter’s new CEO and owner Elon Musk scrapped the company’s remote work policy and ordered all employees to return to the office in his first email to staffers since taking over the company, Bloomberg reported, marking further impact to the firm’s workforce after nearly half of its staff was laid off last week.
Twitter’s new CEO and owner Elon Musk scrapped the company’s remote work policy and ordered all employees to return to the office in his first email to staffers since taking over the company, Bloomberg reported, marking further impact to the firm’s workforce after nearly half of its staff was laid off last week.
Key Facts
According to Bloomberg, Musk’s first email sent to staffers late on Wednesday night warned of “difficult times ahead” for the company, adding that there was no way to “sugarcoat the message.”
Musk also ended Twitter’s lenient remote work policy that has been in place since the start of the pandemic and allowed employees to work from anywhere, corroborating earlier reports.
In his email, Twitter’s new CEO reportedly said the policy change will go into effect immediately and employees are expected to be in the office “at least 40 hours per week.”
Any exemptions to the remote work policy change will have to be personally approved by Musk himself, the report added.
As advertisers flee Twitter over content moderation concerns, Musk wants $8 per month subscriptions from the new Twitter Blue to make up half of Twitter’s total revenue—a far cry from the current situation where 90% of the company’s revenue comes from ads.
Forbes has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Key Background
Musk’s first official email to Twitter employees comes days after the company laid off nearly half of its workforce, gutting several important teams in the process. The entire layoff process was so chaotic that the company had to eventually ask some of the laid-off workers to come back to the company. People who were asked to come back included those who were reportedly fired “by mistake” and others whose skillset the new management did not anticipate would be necessary to help build some of the new features being demanded by Musk. Twitter was also hit with a class action lawsuit last week accusing the company of violating federal and state labor laws by failing to give the laid-off workers adequate notice. Apart from canceling remote work, Musk previously also scrapped Twitter’s “days of rest” policy which was a company-wide extra off day every month that went into effect during the pandemic.
Tangent
Musk has been vocal about his distaste for remote work several times this year. In June, the Tesla CEO scrapped remote work at the electric car company and ordered its executive staff to work a minimum “40 hours a week” a week from office or leave. When asked on Twitter about people wanting to work remotely, Musk responded, “they should pretend to work somewhere else.” In his email to Tesla workers Musk reportedly added: “The office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.” Speaking at an event in May, Musk criticized American workers, stating: “People are trying to avoid going to work at all.” The billionaire’s dig at U.S. workers came after he praised Tesla’s factory workers in China, who he said were willing to work as late as 3 a.m. or not even leave the factory if needed.
Further Reading
Musk’s First Email to Twitter Staff Ends Remote Work (Bloomberg)
Twitter Reportedly Asks Fired Workers To Return—Here’s What To Know About The Aftermath Of Its Mass Layoffs (Forbes)
According to Bloomberg, Musk’s first email sent to staffers late on Wednesday night warned of “difficult times ahead” for the company, adding that there was no way to “sugarcoat the message.”
Musk also ended Twitter’s lenient remote work policy that has been in place since the start of the pandemic and allowed employees to work from anywhere, corroborating earlier reports.
In his email, Twitter’s new CEO reportedly said the policy change will go into effect immediately and employees are expected to be in the office “at least 40 hours per week.”
Any exemptions to the remote work policy change will have to be personally approved by Musk himself, the report added.
As advertisers flee Twitter over content moderation concerns, Musk wants $8 per month subscriptions from the new Twitter Blue to make up half of Twitter’s total revenue—a far cry from the current situation where 90% of the company’s revenue comes from ads.
Forbes has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Key Background
Musk’s first official email to Twitter employees comes days after the company laid off nearly half of its workforce, gutting several important teams in the process. The entire layoff process was so chaotic that the company had to eventually ask some of the laid-off workers to come back to the company. People who were asked to come back included those who were reportedly fired “by mistake” and others whose skillset the new management did not anticipate would be necessary to help build some of the new features being demanded by Musk. Twitter was also hit with a class action lawsuit last week accusing the company of violating federal and state labor laws by failing to give the laid-off workers adequate notice. Apart from canceling remote work, Musk previously also scrapped Twitter’s “days of rest” policy which was a company-wide extra off day every month that went into effect during the pandemic.
Tangent
Musk has been vocal about his distaste for remote work several times this year. In June, the Tesla CEO scrapped remote work at the electric car company and ordered its executive staff to work a minimum “40 hours a week” a week from office or leave. When asked on Twitter about people wanting to work remotely, Musk responded, “they should pretend to work somewhere else.” In his email to Tesla workers Musk reportedly added: “The office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.” Speaking at an event in May, Musk criticized American workers, stating: “People are trying to avoid going to work at all.” The billionaire’s dig at U.S. workers came after he praised Tesla’s factory workers in China, who he said were willing to work as late as 3 a.m. or not even leave the factory if needed.
Further Reading
Musk’s First Email to Twitter Staff Ends Remote Work (Bloomberg)
Twitter Reportedly Asks Fired Workers To Return—Here’s What To Know About The Aftermath Of Its Mass Layoffs (Forbes)
Musk warns Twitter's survival is at stake as staff quits
Elon Musk warned Twitter employees Thursday to brace for “difficult times ahead” that might end with the collapse of the social media platform if they can't find new ways of making money.
The Canadian Press
Workers who survived last week's mass layoffs are facing harsher work conditions and growing uncertainty about their ability to keep Twitter running safely as it continues to lose high-level leaders responsible for data privacy, cybersecurity and complying with regulations.
That includes Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety — a previously little-known executive who became the public face of Twitter’s content moderation after Musk took over and who had been praised by Musk for defending Twitter’s ongoing efforts to fight harmful misinformation and hate speech. An executive confirmed Roth’s resignation to coworkers on an internal messaging board seen by The Associated Press.
The developments were part of another whirlwind day in Musk's acquisition of the social media platform. It began with an email to employees from Musk on Wednesday night ordering workers to stop working from home and show up in the office Thursday morning. He called his first “all-hands" meeting Thursday afternoon. Before that, many were relying on the billionaire Tesla CEO's public tweets for clues about Twitter's future.
“Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," wrote Musk, before he described a dire economic climate for businesses like Twitter that rely almost entirely on advertising to make money.
“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” Musk said. “We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”
At the staff meeting, Musk said some “exceptional” employees could seek an exemption from his return-to-office order but that others who didn’t like it could quit, according to an employee at the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity out of a concern for job security.
The employee also said Musk appeared to downplay employee concerns about how a pared-back Twitter workforce was handling its obligations to maintain privacy and data security standards, saying as CEO of Tesla he knew how that worked.
Musk’s memo and staff meeting echoed a livestreamed conversation trying to assuage major advertisers Wednesday, his most expansive public comments about Twitter’s direction since he closed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform late last month and dismissed its top executives. A number of well-known brands have paused advertising on Twitter.
Musk told employees the “priority over the past 10 days" was to develop and launch Twitter's new subscription service for $7.99 a month that includes a blue check mark next to the name of paid members — the mark was previously only for verified accounts. Musk's project has had a rocky rollout with an onslaught of newly bought fake accounts this week impersonating high-profile figures such as basketball star LeBron James and the drug company Eli Lilly to post false information or offensive jokes.
In a second email to employees, Musk said the “absolute top priority" over the coming days is to suspend “bots/trolls/spam” exploiting the verified accounts. But Twitter now employs far fewer people to help him do that.
An executive last week said Twitter was cutting roughly 50% of its workforce, which numbered 7,500 earlier this year.
Musk told employees in the email that “remote work is no longer allowed" and the road ahead is “arduous and will require intense work to succeed," and that they will need to be in the office at least 40 hours per week.
Twitter's ongoing exodus includes the company's chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, and chief information security officer Lea Kissner, who tweeted Thursday that “I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter.”
Roth’s resignation is a “huge loss” for Twitter’s reliability and integrity, said his former coworker and friend Emily Horne.
“He’s worked incredibly hard under very challenging circumstances, including being personally targeted by some of the most vicious trolls who were active on the platform,” said Horne, who oversaw global policy communications at Twitter until 2018. “He stayed through all of that because he believed so deeply in the work his team was doing to promote a public conversation and improve the health of that conversation."
Cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos, a former Facebook security chief, tweeted Thursday that there is a “serious risk of a breach with drastically reduced staff” that could also put Twitter at odds with a 2011 order from the Federal Trade Commission that required it to address serious data security lapses.
“Twitter made huge strides towards a more rational internal security model and backsliding will put them in trouble with the FTC” and other regulators in the U.S. and Europe, Stamos said.
The FTC said in a statement Thursday that it is “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern."
“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees," said the agency's statement. “Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
The FTC would not say whether it was investigating Twitter for potential violations. If it were, it is empowered to demand documents and depose employees.
In an email to employees seen by the AP, Musk said "Twitter will do whatever it takes to adhere to both the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree.”
“Anything you read to the contrary is absolutely false. The same goes for any other government regulatory matters where Twitter operates," Musk wrote.
Twitter paid a $150 million penalty in May for violating the 2011 consent order and its updated version established new procedures requiring the company to implement an enhanced privacy protection program as well as beefing up info security.
Those new procedures include an exhaustive list of disclosures Twitter must make to the FTC when introducing new products and services — particularly when they affect personal data collected on users.
Musk is fundamentally overhauling the platform's offerings and it's not known if he is telling the FTC about it. Twitter, which gutted its communications department, didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Musk has a history of tangling with regulators. “I do not respect the SEC,” Musk declared in a 2018 tweet.
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently examined for possible tardiness his disclosures to the agency of his purchases of Twitter stock to amass a major stake. In 2018, Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in fines over Musk’s allegedly misleading tweets saying he’d secured the funding to take the electric car maker private for $420 a share. Musk has fought the SEC in court over compliance with the agreement.
The consequences for not meeting FTC's requirements can be severe — such as when Facebook had to pay $5 billion for privacy violations.
“If Twitter so much as sneezes, it has to do a privacy review beforehand,” tweeted Riana Pfefferkorn, a Stanford University researcher who said she previously provided Twitter outside legal counsel. “There are periodic outside audits, and the FTC can monitor compliance.”
—-
AP reporters Frank Bajak and Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.
Matt O'brien, The Associated Press
Elon Musk warned Twitter employees Thursday to brace for “difficult times ahead” that might end with the collapse of the social media platform if they can't find new ways of making money.
The Canadian Press
Workers who survived last week's mass layoffs are facing harsher work conditions and growing uncertainty about their ability to keep Twitter running safely as it continues to lose high-level leaders responsible for data privacy, cybersecurity and complying with regulations.
That includes Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety — a previously little-known executive who became the public face of Twitter’s content moderation after Musk took over and who had been praised by Musk for defending Twitter’s ongoing efforts to fight harmful misinformation and hate speech. An executive confirmed Roth’s resignation to coworkers on an internal messaging board seen by The Associated Press.
The developments were part of another whirlwind day in Musk's acquisition of the social media platform. It began with an email to employees from Musk on Wednesday night ordering workers to stop working from home and show up in the office Thursday morning. He called his first “all-hands" meeting Thursday afternoon. Before that, many were relying on the billionaire Tesla CEO's public tweets for clues about Twitter's future.
“Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," wrote Musk, before he described a dire economic climate for businesses like Twitter that rely almost entirely on advertising to make money.
“Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn,” Musk said. “We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription.”
At the staff meeting, Musk said some “exceptional” employees could seek an exemption from his return-to-office order but that others who didn’t like it could quit, according to an employee at the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity out of a concern for job security.
The employee also said Musk appeared to downplay employee concerns about how a pared-back Twitter workforce was handling its obligations to maintain privacy and data security standards, saying as CEO of Tesla he knew how that worked.
Musk’s memo and staff meeting echoed a livestreamed conversation trying to assuage major advertisers Wednesday, his most expansive public comments about Twitter’s direction since he closed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform late last month and dismissed its top executives. A number of well-known brands have paused advertising on Twitter.
Musk told employees the “priority over the past 10 days" was to develop and launch Twitter's new subscription service for $7.99 a month that includes a blue check mark next to the name of paid members — the mark was previously only for verified accounts. Musk's project has had a rocky rollout with an onslaught of newly bought fake accounts this week impersonating high-profile figures such as basketball star LeBron James and the drug company Eli Lilly to post false information or offensive jokes.
In a second email to employees, Musk said the “absolute top priority" over the coming days is to suspend “bots/trolls/spam” exploiting the verified accounts. But Twitter now employs far fewer people to help him do that.
An executive last week said Twitter was cutting roughly 50% of its workforce, which numbered 7,500 earlier this year.
Musk told employees in the email that “remote work is no longer allowed" and the road ahead is “arduous and will require intense work to succeed," and that they will need to be in the office at least 40 hours per week.
Twitter's ongoing exodus includes the company's chief privacy officer, Damien Kieran, and chief information security officer Lea Kissner, who tweeted Thursday that “I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter.”
Roth’s resignation is a “huge loss” for Twitter’s reliability and integrity, said his former coworker and friend Emily Horne.
“He’s worked incredibly hard under very challenging circumstances, including being personally targeted by some of the most vicious trolls who were active on the platform,” said Horne, who oversaw global policy communications at Twitter until 2018. “He stayed through all of that because he believed so deeply in the work his team was doing to promote a public conversation and improve the health of that conversation."
Cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos, a former Facebook security chief, tweeted Thursday that there is a “serious risk of a breach with drastically reduced staff” that could also put Twitter at odds with a 2011 order from the Federal Trade Commission that required it to address serious data security lapses.
“Twitter made huge strides towards a more rational internal security model and backsliding will put them in trouble with the FTC” and other regulators in the U.S. and Europe, Stamos said.
The FTC said in a statement Thursday that it is “tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern."
“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees," said the agency's statement. “Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
The FTC would not say whether it was investigating Twitter for potential violations. If it were, it is empowered to demand documents and depose employees.
In an email to employees seen by the AP, Musk said "Twitter will do whatever it takes to adhere to both the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree.”
“Anything you read to the contrary is absolutely false. The same goes for any other government regulatory matters where Twitter operates," Musk wrote.
Twitter paid a $150 million penalty in May for violating the 2011 consent order and its updated version established new procedures requiring the company to implement an enhanced privacy protection program as well as beefing up info security.
Those new procedures include an exhaustive list of disclosures Twitter must make to the FTC when introducing new products and services — particularly when they affect personal data collected on users.
Musk is fundamentally overhauling the platform's offerings and it's not known if he is telling the FTC about it. Twitter, which gutted its communications department, didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Musk has a history of tangling with regulators. “I do not respect the SEC,” Musk declared in a 2018 tweet.
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently examined for possible tardiness his disclosures to the agency of his purchases of Twitter stock to amass a major stake. In 2018, Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in fines over Musk’s allegedly misleading tweets saying he’d secured the funding to take the electric car maker private for $420 a share. Musk has fought the SEC in court over compliance with the agreement.
The consequences for not meeting FTC's requirements can be severe — such as when Facebook had to pay $5 billion for privacy violations.
“If Twitter so much as sneezes, it has to do a privacy review beforehand,” tweeted Riana Pfefferkorn, a Stanford University researcher who said she previously provided Twitter outside legal counsel. “There are periodic outside audits, and the FTC can monitor compliance.”
—-
AP reporters Frank Bajak and Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.
Matt O'brien, The Associated Press
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