Ex-Twitter worker wins fight with Elon Musk over unpaid severance

By Kurt Wagner and Malathi Nayak
 

Elon Musk lost a legal fight over unpaid severance to a former Twitter employee who was laid off when he took over the social media platform in 2022, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
 

The resolution of the dispute, which was handled through arbitration, comes almost two years after Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and promptly fired over half of the staff. 

The move sparked more than 2,000 complaints from ex-employees who claimed they were shortchanged on pay. The victory in Friday’s case could set a precedent for the thousands of former employees who have filed similar arbitration grievances. 

“The arbitrator awarded the full severance package to our client,” lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan said in the memo Monday, which was obtained from two former Twitter employees who declined to be identified disclosing confidential information. “We are excited about this development and hope it foreshadows more good news to come.”

Liss-Riordan declined to comment or to disclose the arbitrator’s written ruling following her client’s closed-door proceeding with a private judge.

X didn’t respond to a request for comment.

In July, Musk and X Corp. — the name the billionaire chose to rebrand Twitter — defeated a lawsuit alleging that at least $500 million in severance pay was owed to about 6,000 laid-off employees under provisions of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

In the memo, Liss-Riordan said that 15 cases have had arbitration hearings and she expects more rulings to come out in the next couple of months.

“It is our hope that if more rulings come down our way, Twitter/X will be willing to come to the table and negotiate a settlement for everyone,” she wrote.