Ex-Twitter employees owed half a billion in severance, says lawsuit
(2023/07/13)
- Reference: 1689255064
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/07/13/twitter_lawsuit/
- Source link:
Former Twitter employee Courtney McMillian has filed a complaint claiming the company owes $500 million in severance pay to the thousands of people that were chopped from its once 7,500-strong workforce.
The lawsuit also claims that only a touch over 1,000 people are left working at Twitter 2.0, just as the billionaire is [1]launching his new xAI biz with newly installed CEO Linda Yaccarino now running the show. The legal filing claims: "Upon information and belief, Twitter has terminated approximately 6,000 employees since Mr. Musk's takeover, reducing the Company's workforce from over 7,500 to around 1,300."
The [2]complaint [PDF], a proposed class action that was filed in a California district court, alleges that not only did Twitter 2.0 unlawfully deny severance benefits, but that Musk himself confirmed that severance benefits would be no less favorable for workers than pre-merger benefits for a year after the deal closed, with the idea that this would prevent "skeptical" staffers from resigning en masse.
[3]
The suit states:
Given the widespread skepticism of Mr. Musk's ability to operate Twitter successfully and the tightening of the tech labor market overall at the time, the parties to the Merger Agreement – Mr. Musk and the incoming leadership, as well as Twitter's outgoing management – knew that promising continued Plan benefits was necessary to prevent mass resignations that would threaten the viability of the merger deal and, potentially, of the company itself.
The suit claims the promise was made both pre and post-merger, latterly as part of the April 2022 merger agreement, by way of a document which is attached to the lawsuit as an [4]appendix [PDF]. The document begins with a legal disclaimer that the agreement is confidential, attorney-client privileged, and for "initial planning purposes only" as well as "subject to Twitter's decision making governance procedures."
Under the plan, claims the lawsuit, for senior employees like McMillian the base severance would be "six months' base pay plus one week for each full year of service. Less senior employees are entitled to two months' base pay plus one week for each full year of service."
[5]Elon Musk launches his own xAI biz 'to understand reality'
[6]Tesla plots entry to Britain's stagnant energy market
[7]Musk sues law firm for overcharging Twitter when Twitter was suing Musk
[8]From cage fight to page fight: Twitter threatens to sue Meta after Threads app launch
McMillian, leading the suit, used to look after [9]Twitter's employee benefits programs .
The complaint claims Twitter offered the terminated employees "at most" three months of compensation; two months to comply with the notice requirements of the WARN Act, and then one month of severance pay and cited public reporting indicating that some laid-off employees "have yet to receive anything." However, it goes on to claim, "three months' severance is a fraction of what employees are entitled to as Plan participants."
[10]
In other recent Twitter news, a former worker who claimed he was laid off last year for not clicking yes on Elon Musk's "go hardcore or go home" email, accused the company of holding up [11]891 arbitrations to save money.
Over in the UK, ex-Twitter Brits launched a legal challenge against their dismissal earlier this year. They allege that during the collective consultation redundancy process, Twitter has not been conforming to British law. The proper way to go about it includes involving staff and their representatives in the process, but the ex-staffers claim decisions about their employment had already been made beforehand, after which they claim there was a "retrospective attempt" to apply the process. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/musk_xai_reality/
[2] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67601438/1/mcmillian-v-musk/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZLAfqtjH2hWds0bXTWf17QAAAY0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67601438/1/1/mcmillian-v-musk/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/musk_xai_reality/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/tesla_electric_uk_entry/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/10/x_corp_sues_twitter_law_firm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/06/twitter_threatens_to_sue_meta/
[9] https://worldatwork.org/people/courtney-mcmillian
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZLAfqtjH2hWds0bXTWf17QAAAY0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/05/twitter_arbitrations_lawsuit/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The lawsuit also claims that only a touch over 1,000 people are left working at Twitter 2.0, just as the billionaire is [1]launching his new xAI biz with newly installed CEO Linda Yaccarino now running the show. The legal filing claims: "Upon information and belief, Twitter has terminated approximately 6,000 employees since Mr. Musk's takeover, reducing the Company's workforce from over 7,500 to around 1,300."
The [2]complaint [PDF], a proposed class action that was filed in a California district court, alleges that not only did Twitter 2.0 unlawfully deny severance benefits, but that Musk himself confirmed that severance benefits would be no less favorable for workers than pre-merger benefits for a year after the deal closed, with the idea that this would prevent "skeptical" staffers from resigning en masse.
[3]
The suit states:
Given the widespread skepticism of Mr. Musk's ability to operate Twitter successfully and the tightening of the tech labor market overall at the time, the parties to the Merger Agreement – Mr. Musk and the incoming leadership, as well as Twitter's outgoing management – knew that promising continued Plan benefits was necessary to prevent mass resignations that would threaten the viability of the merger deal and, potentially, of the company itself.
The suit claims the promise was made both pre and post-merger, latterly as part of the April 2022 merger agreement, by way of a document which is attached to the lawsuit as an [4]appendix [PDF]. The document begins with a legal disclaimer that the agreement is confidential, attorney-client privileged, and for "initial planning purposes only" as well as "subject to Twitter's decision making governance procedures."
Under the plan, claims the lawsuit, for senior employees like McMillian the base severance would be "six months' base pay plus one week for each full year of service. Less senior employees are entitled to two months' base pay plus one week for each full year of service."
[5]Elon Musk launches his own xAI biz 'to understand reality'
[6]Tesla plots entry to Britain's stagnant energy market
[7]Musk sues law firm for overcharging Twitter when Twitter was suing Musk
[8]From cage fight to page fight: Twitter threatens to sue Meta after Threads app launch
McMillian, leading the suit, used to look after [9]Twitter's employee benefits programs .
The complaint claims Twitter offered the terminated employees "at most" three months of compensation; two months to comply with the notice requirements of the WARN Act, and then one month of severance pay and cited public reporting indicating that some laid-off employees "have yet to receive anything." However, it goes on to claim, "three months' severance is a fraction of what employees are entitled to as Plan participants."
[10]
In other recent Twitter news, a former worker who claimed he was laid off last year for not clicking yes on Elon Musk's "go hardcore or go home" email, accused the company of holding up [11]891 arbitrations to save money.
Over in the UK, ex-Twitter Brits launched a legal challenge against their dismissal earlier this year. They allege that during the collective consultation redundancy process, Twitter has not been conforming to British law. The proper way to go about it includes involving staff and their representatives in the process, but the ex-staffers claim decisions about their employment had already been made beforehand, after which they claim there was a "retrospective attempt" to apply the process. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/musk_xai_reality/
[2] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67601438/1/mcmillian-v-musk/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZLAfqtjH2hWds0bXTWf17QAAAY0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67601438/1/1/mcmillian-v-musk/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/musk_xai_reality/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/12/tesla_electric_uk_entry/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/10/x_corp_sues_twitter_law_firm/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/06/twitter_threatens_to_sue_meta/
[9] https://worldatwork.org/people/courtney-mcmillian
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZLAfqtjH2hWds0bXTWf17QAAAY0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/05/twitter_arbitrations_lawsuit/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: A Twitter lawsuit database
pdh
There's a wikipedia page for "Google litigation" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_litigation but oddly, I don't see anything similar for Twitter.
You might want to check the figures
lglethal
I might be wrong, but at least the claim on the BBC is that Twitter is shafting its ex-staff of $500 million. Not $500,000.
Or are you writing that it's $500k per person? Sorry, maybe that's what you meant, although it's not particularly clear...
Nearly 600% reduction in staff and...
badflorist
... twitter is still going. What does that really say about Twitter? He should knock it down to about 200 people and see how it goes (or whatever number that kills Twitter off).
There seems to be a lot of self appointed white knights of Twitter that have some unhealthy isolated emotion of attachment to Twitter that is fun to watch get crushed by Elon. It may or may not be the only thing he's doing right but, it's definitely the best he's doing.
Re: Nearly 600% reduction in staff and...
abend0c4
twitter is still going
Twitter is still going in much the same way Anne Boleyn is still wandering around the Tower of London carrying her head.
A Twitter lawsuit database
I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. Someone should create a Twitter lawsuit directory.
Twitter must now have over a hundred legal cases against it, and probably many dozens more before year end.
Unfair dismissals, violating labour laws, unpaid bills, breaking laws on privacy and hate speech etc. etc. in many dozens of jurisdictions all across the world, from Germany to Delaware, from Ireland to India. I think we need a searchable database.
[Start date, end date, jurisdiction, court, case name, case number/docket number, counter party, suit type, suit status, news articles relating to the case, legal analysis relating to the case] did I forget any fields?