Ex-Twitter staffer wins $600K over Musk's click-yes-or-resign ultimatum

Thanks to usonian for the heads up.

Elon Musk’s 24-hour email ultimatum unfairly dismissed Twitter staff, court says.

Ashley Belanger - 8/13/2024, 1:35 PM



https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/elon-musk-loses-fight-with-ex-twitter-staffer-must-pay-600k/

Elon Musk had no business sending Twitter employees an email giving them 24 hours to click "yes" to keep their jobs or else voluntarily resign during his takeover in 2022, an Irish workplace watchdog ruled Monday.

Not only did the email not provide staff with enough notice, the labor court ruled, but also any employee's failure to click "yes" could in no way constitute a legal act of resignation. Instead, the court reviewed evidence alleging that the email appeared designed to either get employees to agree to new employment terms, sight unseen, or else push employees to volunteer for dismissal during a time of mass layoffs across Twitter.

"Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore," Musk wrote in the all-staff email. "This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."

With the subject line, "A Fork in the Road," the email urged staff, "if you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below. Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance. Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful."

FULL story at link above.