Why is Elon Musk laying off Twitter employees? Furious workers sue over lack of notice amid mass crackdown

Elon Musk has had a turbulent few weeks. His first significant action since successfully completing his acquisition of Twitter last week has been to start letting go of sizable portions of the company's workforce. This has resulted in an immediate class action lawsuit against Twitter by five current or would-be former employees, filed on Thursday, November 3.On Thursday, Twitter employees received an email stating that they will soon receive notices about their employment. As per the email, the notices would arrive in their company email accounts if they still have jobs. In case their &quot;employment is impacted,&quot; the notice would be sent to their personal email accounts.Bree A Dail@breeadail#TwitterLayoffs have reportedly begun.Copy of email, sent yesterday:12650#TwitterLayoffs have reportedly begun.Copy of email, sent yesterday: https://t.co/SmuIp3bp45Twitter was sued on Thursday, immediately after the email, on the grounds that the social media platform violated the requirement for 60 days' notice of mass layoffs under both federal and state law.As per internal plans examined by Reuters this week, Elon Musk intends to lay off 3,700 Twitter employees, or roughly half of the company's 7500-odd workforce, to cut costs and enforce a strict new work ethic.The Tesla CEO addressed the article on Friday evening, tweeting that, &quot;unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.&quot;Elon Musk@elonmuskRegarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.26874828836Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.Elon Musk's popularity tanks with layoffs weeks before the holiday seasonNBC News reported that, according to a Twitter employee, before Thursday's email, the team hadn't heard from Twitter since the company's acquisition on October 27, 2022. They shared that the notice resulted in &quot;total chaos, house melting down&quot; for everyone.Five current or would-be former employees, four of whom are based out of San Francisco, home to Twitter's headquarters, immediately filed a lawsuit against the company for violating the federal WARN Act, under which employers have to provide a 60-day notice before any mass layoffs.Lisa Bloom@LisaBloomHey Twitter employees getting laid off tomorrow! IMPORTANT INFO from a CA employment attorney (me):CA's &quot;WARN&quot; law requires Twitter to give you 60 days notice of a massive layoff. A layoff of 50+ employees within a 30 day period qualifies.I know you didn't get that notice.15368939458Hey Twitter employees getting laid off tomorrow! IMPORTANT INFO from a CA employment attorney (me):CA's &quot;WARN&quot; law requires Twitter to give you 60 days notice of a massive layoff. A layoff of 50+ employees within a 30 day period qualifies.I know you didn't get that notice.The suit also claims that three additional employees were blocked from accessing their Twitter accounts as of Thursday without receiving any official notice of a layoff, which they believe to be a sign that they will be fired.simon balmain@SBkcrnLooks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much. So sad it had to end this way 458523722Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much. So sad it had to end this way 💔The attorney who filed the complaint, Shannon Liss-Riordan, told Bloomberg that employees need to know their rights. She stated:“We filed this lawsuit tonight in an attempt the make sure that employees are aware that they should not sign away their rights and that they have an avenue for pursuing their rights.”Employees have also shown concern that if they publicly disagree with Elon Musk, they stand a chance of losing both their jobs and the exit package.Ben Collins@oneunderscore__Some employees I'm hearing from at Twitter are desperate to get laid off and get severance. The work culture there is beyond toxic.Some are afraid to push back against Elon because they don't want to risk getting fired for cause — disagreeing with Elon — and losing severance.92091420Some employees I'm hearing from at Twitter are desperate to get laid off and get severance. The work culture there is beyond toxic.Some are afraid to push back against Elon because they don't want to risk getting fired for cause — disagreeing with Elon — and losing severance.Elon Musk, notably the current richest man on earth has received a lot of flak for the layoffs three weeks before the holiday season. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, this is an objectively terrible time to lose a source of steady income.The move has resulted in massive backlash from netizensCriticism has poured in as the idea of billionaires helping with job creation is relentlessly questioned.Cody Bishop@RainWzrdBillionaires are just so great for companies. Look at him, creating new opportunities and doing all of that magic “jobs creation” that we’re told billionaires are soooo good at. #TwitterLayoffs twitter.com/ruchowdh/statu…Rumman Chowdhury@ruchowdhHas it already started? Happy layoff eve!588147Has it already started? Happy layoff eve! https://t.co/0AcaQjGJvmBillionaires are just so great for companies. Look at him, creating new opportunities and doing all of that magic “jobs creation” that we’re told billionaires are soooo good at. #TwitterLayoffs twitter.com/ruchowdh/statu…GQPHypocrisy@GQPHypocrisyI was told Billionaires need our Tax Money because they're job creators #TwitterLayoffs.51031231I was told Billionaires need our Tax Money because they're job creators #TwitterLayoffs.| e | d | d | i | e | #FreeBrittneyGriner@esangalangSo a billionaire bought twitter at an over inflated price and then fired half the staff. Can someone from the GOP explain how that billionaire is a job creator? I mean, that’s the reason they keep cutting billionaires taxes, right?So a billionaire bought twitter at an over inflated price and then fired half the staff. Can someone from the GOP explain how that billionaire is a job creator? I mean, that’s the reason they keep cutting billionaires taxes, right?The Tesla CEO's business model has also been put on the spot following the news of the layoff.Avinav@avinav2712With the fiasco due to #TwitterLayoffs, I guess the ones remaining are actually the unlucky ones, never knowing when it's their turn. Btw @elonmusk, how do you plan on hiring new talent later with this sort of attitude?With the fiasco due to #TwitterLayoffs, I guess the ones remaining are actually the unlucky ones, never knowing when it's their turn. Btw @elonmusk, how do you plan on hiring new talent later with this sort of attitude?Justin Zigner@Zignerj#TwitterLayoffs #OneTeam A sysadmin in my division who was better at my job than myself was fired on one day's notice during covid and another teammate had to cover down two additional sites during a product rollout. All of it to hit corporate stock targets. It hurts, I know.#TwitterLayoffs #OneTeam A sysadmin in my division who was better at my job than myself was fired on one day's notice during covid and another teammate had to cover down two additional sites during a product rollout. All of it to hit corporate stock targets. It hurts, I know.Jokes have abounded at Elon Musk's expense.Kumar Vivek@KumarVivvvekk@FirstSquawk Elon Musk has turned into one Thanos who charges $8#TwitterLayoffs #blueTick@FirstSquawk Elon Musk has turned into one Thanos who charges $8#TwitterLayoffs #blueTickMohar Chattaraj...@ChattarajMohar#TwitterDown #TwitterLayoffsHold on guys Elon is fixing twitter2051274#TwitterDown #TwitterLayoffsHold on guys Elon is fixing twitter https://t.co/CTL2rDFLs8raghav_lal@raghavlal6&quot;You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain&quot; - All the folks who looked up to Elon Musk after the Twitter Layoffs&quot;You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain&quot; - All the folks who looked up to Elon Musk after the Twitter LayoffsAccording to two internal sources and an internal Slack message examined by Reuters, Musk has instructed Twitter's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings.Elon Musk had previously fired Parag Agrawal as CEO, along with Twitter's CFO and head of legal, public policy, trust, and safety, as soon as he took over the company.

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