Elon Musk has lost a legal battle over unpaid severance pay with former Twitter employees who were laid off when the social media platform was acquired in 2022, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
The dispute was resolved through arbitration nearly two years after Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and immediately laid off more than half of its staff.
The move sparked complaints from more than 2,000 former employees who say they were underpaid. A victory in Friday’s lawsuit could set a precedent for thousands of former employees who have filed similar arbitration complaints.
“The arbitrator awarded our client a full severance package,” attorney Shannon Rees-Riordan said in a memo obtained Monday from two former Twitter employees who disclosed confidential information. “We are excited about this development and anticipate more good news to come.”
Lees-Riordan declined to comment or make public the arbitrator’s written decision after his client went through a private proceeding with a judicial judge.
X did not respond to requests for comment.
In July, Musk and X Corp. (the billionaire’s chosen name for rebranding Twitter) I was defeated The lawsuit seeks to pay at least $500 million in severance pay to about 6,000 laid-off employees under the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Reese-Riordan said in the memo that 15 cases have been heard in arbitration and that more decisions are expected in the coming months.
“I hope that as more rulings are made, Twitter/X will be willing to sit down at the table and negotiate a settlement that works for everyone,” she wrote.
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