Twitter layoffs begin after Musk takeover, ex-employees organize to sue

The AFP news agency, citing a document to which it had access, Twitter’s workforce, located at about 7,500 employees worldwide, would be cut in half. “Around 50% of the workforce will be affected,” the document read.

The file states that those employees who would not be fired were notified through their corporate email accounts. Those who must leave the company will be informed of the steps to follow through their personal email account.

Twitter, the communications company based in the city of San Francisco, changed hands after the South African billionaire Elon Musk acquired it for a value of 44,000 million dollars.

A week after completing the operation, the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla began a wave of layoffs that not only involved its management staff, but also a large part of the 7,500 employees that the company has throughout the world.

“In an effort to put Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” read an email sent on November 3 according to the Reuters news agency.

To carry out the action, the company’s offices in much of the world closed on November 4 in order to “help ensure the security of each employee and that of Twitter’s systems and data,” read a statement. document.

Musk, considered the world’s richest person, is seeking to cut costs while imposing a new, more demanding work ethic.

According to the British publication ‘The Guardian’, it was unofficially learned that among the dismissed were representatives of the work unit in charge of countering erroneous information.

“The move, if true, will make Twitter louder, more dangerous and less interesting,” said Richie Assaly, a digital producer for the Toronto Star who says he previously worked on the team.

Former employees organize to sue Musk over layoffs

However, Musk’s plans to lay off at least 3,700 employees could become a new roadblock. Some employees have already initiated legal action against the tycoon.

On Thursday, November 3, a lawsuit was filed in a United States federal court based in San Francisco on the grounds that Twitter violated a federal law by failing to comply with the required notice period.

Under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice Act, large employers must give 60 days’ notice when mass layoffs are going to take place, as in the case of Twitter.

The British media ‘The Guardian’ points out that the lawsuit, filed on behalf of five Twitter employees, states that one of them was fired on November 1 while three others were not informed at the time of filing, but were blocked. access to your email accounts.

Peter Rahbar, founding lawyer of the Rahbar Group law firm based in New York, told the aforementioned British media that the speed with which the layoffs were made could expose Musk and Twitter to face a lawsuit for discrimination, if it is finally proven that they affected in any way. disproportionately to women, people of African descent or older workers.

“For whatever reason, (Musk) wants to fire half of the company without doing due diligence on what these people do or who they are and without any respect for the law,” the specialist added.

After completing the Twitter purchase, Musk fired several top executives at the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and chief policy and legal officer Vijaya Gadde.

Musk will implement other actions to rescue Twitter

According to AFP, the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk caused damage to the finances of the organization, which was already in a fragile situation.

To finance the deal, Musk borrowed from the company, which had posted a significant deficit during the first two quarters of the year. Among other things, Musk requested loans worth 13,000 million dollars, which will have to be paid by Twitter.

Additionally, the CEO of Tesla will have to face the concern of advertisers, who have doubts about the risks that a relaxation in the moderation of content within the platform could entail.

This situation has led several groups, including the US agribusiness giant General Mills, the US car manufacturer General Motors and its German competitor Volkswagen, to choose to suspend advertising spending on the aforementioned social network.

For this reason, and looking for a profitable company, Musk proposes a subscription of eight dollars a month that allows users a series of advantages, among them, being less exposed to advertising.

This measure, which could come into force during the second week of November in some regions such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But it has already generated rejection from certain groups that had so-called “verified accounts.”

With Reuters, AFP, AP and local media