Twitter is slapped with a new lawsuit from former employees over non-payment of the promised severance pay to thousands, including the head of employee benefits programs.
The supposed pay promised by Elon Musk after he laid off most of the Twitter employees amounted to at least $500 million. While some are partially paid, some received nothing as of now.
Failing to Fulfil Promises
Amidst new competition, instability and debt payments, Twitter has a separate suit of problems to deal with – delayed payments to former, current employees, which the company has faced since Elon Musk’s takeover.
Revamping Twitter, Elon Musk laid off more than half of Twitter employees late last year. Though it helped the company to cut some costs, all the let-go employees were eligible for severance pay – which Twitter created in 2019, and most workers were promised two months of their base pay plus one week of income for each full year of service.
This goes to six months of base pay for several senior employees – to which Twitter’s former employee benefits programs head, Courtney McMillian, was eligible. And as Twitter is denying the payments, McMillan is suing Twitter in San Francisco court this week.
In her lawsuit, McMillan accused Twitter of refusing to pay at least $500 million in promised severance to thousands of employees – who all were laid off after Elon Musk’s takeover. Well, Twitter paid some laid-off workers at most one month of severance, but others have yet to receive anything.
This lawsuit is one among many that Twitter faces today. In contrast, others accuse the company of non-payment of bonuses to existing employees, targeted layoffs at women and workers with disabilities, etc. While there’s a separate lawsuit accusing Twitter of failed severance payment, it’s based on a breach of contract rather than a violation of law, as the fresh one.
