Elon Musk has lost a legal battle over unpaid severance pay for a former Twitter employee who was laid off when he took over the social media platform in 2022, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
The resolution of the dispute, which was handled through arbitration, comes nearly two years after Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and immediately fired more than half the employees.
The move has sparked more than 2,000 complaints from former employees who alleged they were not paid enough. A victory in Friday’s case could set a precedent for thousands of former employees who have filed similar arbitration complaints.
“The arbitrator has awarded the full compensation package to our client,” attorney Shannon Liz-Rirdan said in a memo Monday, obtained by two former Twitter employees who declined to be identified to disclose confidential information. “We are excited about this development and hope it heralds more good news to come.”
Liz-Rirdan declined to comment or disclose the arbitrator’s written ruling following her client’s closed proceedings with a private judge.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
In July, Musk and X Corp. — the name the billionaire chose to rebrand Twitter — announced defeated A lawsuit alleges that at least $500 million in severance pay was owed to about 6,000 employees who were laid off under provisions of the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
In the memo, Liz-Rirdan said 15 cases have been through arbitration, and she expects more rulings to be issued in the next two months.
“We hope that if further rulings come our way, Twitter/X will be willing to come to the table and negotiate a settlement for all,” she wrote.
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