Elon Musk’s 24-hour email ultimatum unfairly dismissed Twitter staff, court says.
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Elon Musk loses fight with ex-Twitter staffer, must pay $600K
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Im guessing there are a ton of employees that now wish they had not caved and clicked yes.
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Musk will spin this into a win because it is cheaper than having an HR Department.
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$600,000 * 34 = $20,400,000 in potential payouts for Irish workers. That's a good start.
Mea culpa, misplaced comma.
Mea culpa, misplaced comma.
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Not surprised that an EU nation is the one to correctly call out how abusive and coercive that email was and that it you can't be forced into resigning like that for not agreeeing to mystery terms
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...which might end with some people with a warrant removing some high value items from Twitter's European headquarters and/or impounding some Twitter property, or freeze their bank assets, or ask a judge to liquidate the company.
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And for the people that did click, I’m not sure that any new terms would be enforceable.
As a worker you are considered to have less power than your employer, and a ‘agree to these unspecified terms or be terminated’ does not feel like a real, informed choice.
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The fact Musk is getting away with:
1. Running hostile / racist / mysogynist work environments
2. Shutting down an advertising watchdog merely by filing a suit (not winning it; simply filing it)
3. Is largely getting away with unilaterally changing terms of employment with little to no recourse for employees...
Is just going to empower more of such activities. In the US especially, I can working for tech companies run by billionaire asshats becoming ever more dystopian.
Cheers to the Irish court for acknowledging the obvious and forcing X / Musk to face the consequences of their anti-employee / illegal activities. Now, what mechanisms do they have to enforce the outcome? I'm gonna guess not very effective ones because when it comes to billionaires and corporations the fix is always in - in their favor.
1. Running hostile / racist / mysogynist work environments
2. Shutting down an advertising watchdog merely by filing a suit (not winning it; simply filing it)
3. Is largely getting away with unilaterally changing terms of employment with little to no recourse for employees...
Is just going to empower more of such activities. In the US especially, I can working for tech companies run by billionaire asshats becoming ever more dystopian.
Cheers to the Irish court for acknowledging the obvious and forcing X / Musk to face the consequences of their anti-employee / illegal activities. Now, what mechanisms do they have to enforce the outcome? I'm gonna guess not very effective ones because when it comes to billionaires and corporations the fix is always in - in their favor.
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Check your decimals.
It's $20.4M, not $204M.
Or maybe that's what you meant and just misplaced your comma.
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Fantastic.
For every day that Musk does not pay the fees to the employee Twitter needs to be blocked in Ireland. Nothing else except blocking people from viewing Musk's tweets will actually get him to pay.
No more appeals, no more whining Elon. Pay the damn ex employees or I hope he gets arrested.
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Then the court will confiscate assets to the amount of the judgement.
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Your comma being misplaced made me do the math in my head a couple of times to make sure I wasn't insane.
$20.4 million vs $204 million
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ubercurmudgeon
Ars Tribunus Militum
Do you know how much of an asshole you have to be to get the Irish to side against your big tech company? This is the country that said "No thanks" when the EU ruled that Apple owed them 13 billion euros in back taxes.
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Considering that he was saying he was going to fire 75% of the company at that time did anyone think this was supposed to be "let that sink in" instead of "throw everything out but the kitchen sink"?
Firing all those people who made a system strong enough to stay up is just such a crime.
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For a "Senior Executive" who was an employee for NINE years, Twitter wasn't paying much! The original 3 months severance was $25,000 soooo he was earning the equivalent of $100,000 per year? Even with stock options (which how is higher up people are often compensated in addition to salary) and maybe other benefits (which he might not have retained after employment ended), that compensation isn't great. Also, Twitter's stock isn't publicly traded anymore, so who knows how much it is worth for purposes of stock options!
I'm glad this guy won in court. I don't hate or dislike Elon Musk, but I'm disappointed that he didn't have (or didn't bother to consult) internal counsel prior to trying make continued employment "Opt-In" at Twitter!
I'm glad this guy won in court. I don't hate or dislike Elon Musk, but I'm disappointed that he didn't have (or didn't bother to consult) internal counsel prior to trying make continued employment "Opt-In" at Twitter!
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Perhaps in the short term. It's not easy to retain top talent if you treat them like shit.
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From the article:
"X has not commented on the ruling but is likely disappointed by the loss."
(Emphasis mine.)
Please stop doing this. If X hasn't (or won't) comment, just leave it at that and don't make any assumptions of how they feel about it.
"X has not commented on the ruling but is likely disappointed by the loss."
(Emphasis mine.)
Please stop doing this. If X hasn't (or won't) comment, just leave it at that and don't make any assumptions of how they feel about it.
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Statistical
Ars Legatus Legionis
On one hand it is great someone got a win. On the other hand it is 2 years after the fact and Twitface will appeal.
Honestly I think on appeal penalty interest at 25% APY should accrue. If you think you will win on the merits then great but if not best to stop digging a hole. That is the problem with "the best justice money can buy". Elon can drag it out for 2-10 years and then pay essentially couch cushion money if he exhausts every option to avoid paying.
Honestly I think on appeal penalty interest at 25% APY should accrue. If you think you will win on the merits then great but if not best to stop digging a hole. That is the problem with "the best justice money can buy". Elon can drag it out for 2-10 years and then pay essentially couch cushion money if he exhausts every option to avoid paying.
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Statistical
Ars Legatus Legionis
Rules are for losers. At this point it is clear Elon Musk just does what he wants. If he (or his companies) get sued then he will outspend the litigants and likely win. If he can't win he can drag it out. If he can't drag it out any longer he pays the equivalent of you paying $8 in fines and it goes away. Long before that happens this process has repeated a half dozen times so he has a never ending churn of lawsuits against him at all times. Unless someone can win a $30B lawsuit against it well it is rounding error.
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I wish, but I remember news articles about Twitter refusing to pay rent for its offices getting similar comments. I have not seen any follow-up news of Musk getting comeuppance.
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I’d imagine that clicking ‘yes’ could also be argued to have been an act under duress.
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It's not okay in any country, but unfortunately most countries are just letting it slide. Especially the US, where corporations are people, but with more rights.
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Thank you for this!
It's been a pet peeve of mine for a while when authors do this. If the subject doesn't provide a comment, don't make one up for them.
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I'm guessing the court will go for whatever looks like it will get the $600k with the least effort on their part.
Hopefully they grab something vital to Twitter remaining online.
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In those cases, there were people saying that evicting Twitter would probably lead to the buildings sitting empty for a while. So the landlords had an incentive to give Twitter more time to pay up instead of starting the eviction process.
There is no such incentive here.
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Many execs in the US are supposedly watching how all of it develops. They were amazed on how 'lean' Twitter is (was?) now running with 2/3 of its workforce gone. I hope they also see how also 3/4 of its value is now wiped out. Greed is the fall of humanity. I hope Twitter is gone before November, for good.
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As it turns out, improper contracts and ultimatums are void in the court of law. Who'd've guessed?
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Jesus tap dancing Christ! Click yes to remain employed? Are we now entering the EULA era of employment?
What's next? "By not submitting a recording of yourself spinning around exactly 18 times while flawlessly reciting the entire lyrics to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" you confirm that you agree that your employer can change any and all details of your employment without any notification including but not limited whether you are to be paid for work performed, ownership of all IP or items ever created by you from the moment of birth until your death (including progeny), and whether Company Executives have right of Prima Nocta if you are wed". /s
What's next? "By not submitting a recording of yourself spinning around exactly 18 times while flawlessly reciting the entire lyrics to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" you confirm that you agree that your employer can change any and all details of your employment without any notification including but not limited whether you are to be paid for work performed, ownership of all IP or items ever created by you from the moment of birth until your death (including progeny), and whether Company Executives have right of Prima Nocta if you are wed". /s
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I'm sure Musk will respond in his usual calm, collected, and thoughtful manner, and not with an offensive emoji or crude edgelord meme.
(I don't really need to add the /s do I?)
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Agreed, if we're going to speculate without evidence here's mine:
...but it caused Musk to take another hit of K and call the plaintiff a pedophile.
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