Social media giant, Twitter, finds itself in hot water after accusations emerged of a severance default to the tune of $500 million. The allegations come from a considerable group of its workforce, who saw their positions terminated following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company.
The alleged broken promise
Courtney McMillian, the former overseer of Twitter’s employee benefits programs, also known as the “head of total rewards,” spearheads the clamor. She is among those who lost their jobs in January following the acquisition.
Subsequently, she has chosen to take the matter to the court, filing a proposed class-action suit in a San Francisco federal court. McMillian points to a 2019 company severance plan as the backbone of her allegations.
The plan, according to her, assured a significant part of the workforce two months of base pay and an additional week’s pay for each full year served at the company, in the event of a layoff. High-ranking employees like herself, she claims, stood to receive six months of base pay.
However, Twitter did not meet these stipulated provisions. As McMillian alleges, the social media giant only provided a maximum of one month’s severance pay to laid-off workers, with a considerable fraction receiving nothing at all.
Twitter’s response and legal backdrop
Following Musk’s takeover of the company in October, Twitter embarked on a mass workforce trimming exercise. It saw over half of the company’s employees lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting measure.
In response to the lawsuit, Twitter’s now-absent media relations department served up an ambiguous poop emoji when asked for a comment. This isn’t the first time that the company is grappling with similar allegations.
The company has previously faced lawsuits for allegedly not paying severance, with the legal complaints being primarily focused on breach of contract.
Twitter maintains its stance that it has made full payments to its former employees, brushing off any suggestions of impropriety.
Last month saw the company under fire for supposedly neglecting to pay millions of dollars in bonuses to its remaining staff. Twitter, as usual, refutes these claims, asserting that they lack merit.
These legal disputes make up part of a series of lawsuits that Twitter has had to contend with since last year’s layoffs began. These cases, which include accusations of the company targeting women and disabled workers, continue to pile pressure on the embattled social media behemoth.
Twitter, however, has maintained a consistent line of defense, denying any wrongdoing in the lawsuits where it has made its responses. The unfolding case filed by McMillian paints a disturbing picture of an apparent default of a severance commitment.
It opens a new chapter in Twitter’s legal challenges, with the question being whether the company will rise above the accusation or buckle under the weight of a $500 million payout demand.
