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Elon Musk faces several cause for fire more than 6,000 Twitter employees , including then - CEO Parag Agrawal , adopt Musk’s2022 takeoverof the social media political program . On Tuesday , Musk overcome one of those case , as a federal judge ruled X Corp. does n’t owe the ex - employees any more severance .
The causa , filed by Twitter ’s former head of mass experience and another ex-wife - director , alleged that X Corp. paid fired Twitter employees less severance than they were contractually promised . Thecomplaintstated Twitter offered these 6,000 fired employee , at most , three month of severance pay , which Musk confirmed in atweetat the time . Twitter ’s Severance Plan , which was in effect since 2019 , had antecedently promised senior employees upwards of six months of falling out pay , accord to the ill .
The complainant calculate Musk owed these former employees upward of $ 500 million , citing protections under the Union Employee Retirement Income Security Act ( ERISA ) .
Regarding Twitter ’s reduction in force-out , alas there is no choice when the company is losing over $ 4M / day . Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severing , which is 50 % more than legally necessitate .
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson dismiss the form natural process suit in San Francisco on Tuesday .
In a court filing , Judge Thompson said the ERISA protections did not apply because Musk ’s company give notice employees curtly after the October 2022 coup that force out employee would only receive cash payouts . Because of this notice , the mass firings that occurred in November were not under Twitter ’s previous severance architectural plan , according to the judge .
“ We are let down in the opinion and view our options for prompt onward , ” say a representative for Sanford Heisler Sharp , the practice of law firm typify the plaintiffs in this suit , in an electronic mail to TechCrunch .
Since the November 2022 release , X Corp. has operate the social media platform with a bare - bone staff . Musk told theBBCin 2023 that he brought Twitter ’s staff down to 1,500 employee , from rough 8,000 before his coup , citing major price - cutting efforts . Despite the drive , X has continue to struggle , as document obtained by Bloomberg read the companylost $ 456 millionin the first after part of 2023 .
Musk is not out of the weewee yet for these aggregated firings . In another suit , Agrawal and three other former Twitter Inc. executive areseeking $ 128 millionin severing defrayment from X Corp. after they were let go in the wad discharge . Another lawsuitfrom former fourth-year employees at Twitter seeks more than $ 1 million in severance payments , but Musk tell he never agreed to these former employee ’ benefit plans .
