In brief: Former Twitter platform X has been ordered to pay an ex-employee in Ireland more than €550,000 ($602,640) in an unfair dismissal case. The one-time senior executive at the company was found to have been dismissed unfairly after he failed to click “yes” on an email from Elon Musk confirming that staff were willing to be part of the new “hardcore” work culture.
In November 2022, not long after his protracted battle to take over Twitter had ended, Musk emailed staff giving them an ultimatum: they could either agree to the new, extremely hardcore “Twitter 2.0,” with its 40-hour-minimum weeks – they could average 60 hours or more – and intense workloads, or leave the company. Employees were given until 5 pm the next day to decide.
“This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing a grade,” Musk wrote in the email, which had the subject line, “A Fork in the Road.”
Agreeing to be part of Musk’s vision meant clicking on a link in the email. Musk wrote that those who did not would receive three months of severance pay.
To all the Tweeps who decided to make today your last day: thanks for being incredible teammates through the ups and downs. I can’t wait to see what you do next. ð«¡ �’�
– Esther Crawford ⨠(@esthercrawford) November 17, 2022
Gary Rooney, who worked in a procurement role at Twitter’s international’s Dublin office, was one of those who received the email. He never clicked on the link agreeing to be part of Twitter 2.0. Three days later, he received another email from his employer to “acknowledge your decision to resign and accept the voluntary separation offer.”
Rooney, who had been with the company since 2013, told Twitter a week later that at no time had he indicated that he was resigning, “nor have I seen any separation agreement let alone accepted one.”
The case was taken to Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Rooney said during a hearing that he had loved his job before Musk took over, and that he was initially afraid to open Musk’s email over fears it was spam or malware.
Writing in an internal Slack message to a colleague after receiving the email, Rooney said, “I need to step away for my own sake. I’m deeply troubled by whats going on here these days.”
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Rooney told the WRC that the email didn’t explain the kind of package being offered, what the implications of staying at Twitter would be, his stock options, or other benefits.
In a 73-page ruling, adjudication officer, Michael MacNamee, ruled that the dismissal was unfair. Twitter tried to argue that the Slack discussions and his own Tweets about the email indicated that Rooney intended to resign, but the court ruled that these were irrelevant.
“No employee when faced with such a situation could possibly be faulted for refusing to be compelled to give an open-ended unqualified assent to any of the proposals,” MacNamee said, adding that 24 hours was not “reasonable notice.”
Rooney was awarded €550,131 (around $605,763), made up of €350,131 ($385,538) for lost remuneration from January 2023 to May 2024, and €200,000 ($220,225) for future remuneration.
Twitter’s senior director of human resources, Lauren Wegman, told the hearing that 235 of the 270 staff in Ireland who received the email clicked yes. As for the 35 who didn’t, Twitter “accepted their resignations.” It’s likely that some or all of them might be looking at the outcome of the Rooney hearing with interest.
Barry Kenny, Rooney’s lawyer, told The Guardian, that he welcomed “the clear and unambiguous finding that my client did not resign from his employment but was unfairly dismissed from his job, notwithstanding his excellent employment record and contribution to the company over the years.”
He said: “It is not okay for Mr Musk, or indeed any large company to treat employees in such a manner in this country. The record award reflects the seriousness and the gravity of the case.”
