USA 
United Kingdom
X has lost a legal battle over unpaid severance to a former employee who was fired from the company in 2022 following Elon Musk takeover of the social media platform.
Over 2,000 similar complaints have also been filed, with the legal representative for the ex-employee hoping the verdict could “foreshadow” similar victories.
According to a memo viewed by Bloomberg News, the dispute, handled through arbitration, resulted in the former employee being allocated a full severance package.
“The arbitrator awarded the full severance package to our client,” lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan wrote in the memo. “We are excited about this development and hope it foreshadows more good news to come.”
Could legal victory could prompt major settlement payout from X?
The lawyer also predicted that further similar rulings could follow, with 15 cases currently moving through arbitration hearings, suggesting that X may be forced to agree to a wider settlement if results continue to stack up.
“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 continued.
Neither X nor Liss-Riordan have publicly commented on the ruling.
The dispute relates to the severance package awarded to the ex-employee after he was fired from the business following Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform in 2022.
After the takeover, Musk emailed employees revealing his new vision for the company’s future, which he called "Twitter 2.0."
The memo, labeled “Fork in the Road,” outlined the vision and what it would mean for the company’s culture: “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
Employees were offered the choice to commit to Musk’s new vision or leave the company with three months’ severance.
Musk’s takeover ultimatum sparks legal fallout
In July, Musk defeated a lawsuit claiming he refused to pay over $500million in severance to the thousands of employees he fired for refusing to agree to his ultimatum.
The plaintiffs alleged that affected employees did not receive the severance they were entitled to, and only received one month’s severance pay.
Courtney McMillian, Twitter's former Head of Total Rewards, filed the proposed class action after she was laid off in January. She claimed that under Twitter’s 2019 severance plan, most employees were entitled to two months’ base pay plus one week of pay for each full year of service, while some senior staff were entitled to six months of base pay.
McMillian claims many employees were given nothing.
The ultimatum email has caused other legal headaches for Musk. In August, a former senior employee at Twitter’s European headquarters was awarded over $600,000 (€550,000) in compensation after a tribunal ruled that his failure to respond to an email from Elon Musk did not mean he had resigned.
“This decision clearly establishes that my client did not resign but was instead unfairly dismissed,” the ex-employee’s legal representative stated. “It sends a strong message that even global corporations like Twitter must respect employee rights. The record compensation awarded underscores the severity of the case.”
Other lawsuits have also claimed the mass firing unfairly targeted women and employees with disabilities, though has denied any wrongdoing.
