Unfair dismissals are costing X dearly…

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A former employee of X, formerly Twitter, has just win his case against the platform. The latter was ordered to pay him 550,000 euros in compensation, a record amount for an unfair dismissal case before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), the Irish public agency responsible for industrial relations.

The famous ultimatum

When he took over the former Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk decided to part ways with the majority of the company’s employees. To do this, he used an unconventional method: sending them a message giving them an ultimatum. “In the future, to create a revolutionary Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely rigorous. Only exceptional performance will earn a passing grade ,” he wrote.

Staff were asked to click “ yes ” within 24 hours to accept the new terms, although these were not explicitly stated. Gary Rooney, who had been with the company for nine years, told the trial that he felt a sense of disbelief when he saw the email.

And for good reason. Three days later, he received another email from X, telling him that his decision to resign had been confirmed. His access to the company's systems was cut off immediately.

© Wikimedia Commons/Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media

The complainant alleges a lack clarity from X

Or, despite not having clicked on ” yes », Rooney believes he did not leave the company voluntarily. According to him, the time given by X to make his decision was unacceptable, especially after nine years with the company.

The firm's lack of clarity about the possibility of working weekends and overtime also alerted him. Without knowing such implications, it was impossible to make an informed choice, explained Arthur Cush, Gary Rooney's lawyer.

On 7 December 2022, Rooney was offered a draft service agreement worth €22,384, which would be withdrawn if he did not accept it within two weeks. This amount was significantly less than he could have expected based on his seniority and his remuneration package, which was €369,937 per year. Hence his decision to go to court.

Conviction of X

For its part, X denies any dismissal, ensuring that the email sent to employees was precise and comprehensive. The company also cited messages sent by the plaintiff shortly after receiving the email, in which he expressed his desire to leave. In addition, it explains that of the 270 employees in Ireland who received the email, 235 clicked “yes” and kept their pay and duties unchanged.

The courts sided with Gary Rooney. X was thus ordered to pay 550,000 euros to its former manager for unfair dismissal. The platform has not yet responded to this verdict. But similar cases are likely to force her to dig deeper into her pockets. Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other ex-executives are demanding multi-million dollar severance pay.

• In Ireland, X is ordered to pay €550,000 to one of her former employees for wrongful dismissal
• The complainant had not clicked on ” yes ” when receiving an email describing the efforts to be made to build Twitter 2.0
• 24 hours later, X notified him that his resignation had been confirmed. The man denies having wanted to leave the company voluntarily

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