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Twitter: A severance offer is a financial concession made by an employer to a worker whose employment has been terminated or laid off.
It is often created as a mechanism for the business to support the worker financially during the adjustment period following the layoff.
Salary, benefits, and other forms of compensation may all be included in severance packages.
Employees fired by Elon Musk said after two months that they had not yet received a formal severance offer or separation agreement.
On Wednesday, the last formal day of employment for those affected by the first round of layoffs, one former worker said they anticipated receiving information.
The news
Early Thursday, the ex-employee said they never received any paperwork referring to the offer or severance agreement.
Similar statements were made on Twitter by other ex-employees.
One person said they had never been offered severance or seen a formal layoff letter.
As of Thursday, no severance information had been sent to Shannon Liss-Riordam’s clients, laid-off Twitter employees, according to a spokesman for the lawyer.
The spokesperson, Kevin Ready, said:
“There was some anticipation that they would be sent yesterday, but we haven’t seen that.”
Meanwhile, Liss-Riordan released a statement on Thursday that reads:
“Yesterday was the official separation date for thousands of Twitter employees, and after months of chaos and uncertainty created by Elon Musk, these workers remain in the lurch.”
The layoffs
Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the social media firm in October.
Since then, as he began making expense cuts and paying off mountains of debt, staff concerns surfaced.
One month later, Musk was still firing people off in waves.
He further forced away workers by making those who remained to sign a commitment to put in “hardcore” work.
Musk promised the laid-off employees three months of severance during the layoffs.
The time frame included the 60-day advanced warning that Twitter was required to release.
Read also: Amazon reveals plans of letting 18,000 workers go
Other problems
After the Musk takeover, Twitter still had a number of issues.
After the business failed to pay the rent in a San Francisco office, a commercial landlord filed a lawsuit against the company for breach of contract.
A private flight provider claimed that the business did not pay its bills.
Finally, to reduce costs, The New York Times reported in December that Twitter had considered refusing severance to laid-off workers.
The site quoted insiders with knowledge of executive discussions, heightening the sense of uncertainty among those affected by the layoffs.
Since the majority of the public relations team was eliminated after the layoffs, Twitter was unable to reply to the claims.
Severance agreements
Fortune published a report on Thursday afternoon stating that Twitter intended to distribute severance agreements to terminated employees that day.
It wasn’t clear when the agreements would be made public, though.
The claim included screenshots and an unnamed individual close to the subject.
Former US Twitter employees would have received one month’s base pay under the severance agreements.
Additionally, a clause mandating employees to forego taking part in ongoing legal actions against Twitter would be included.
Lawsuits
On behalf of the fired workers, Shannon Liss-Riordan submitted four proposed class action lawsuits against Twitter.
The complaints cited allegations that the business broke its promises of regular benefits and remote work.
In addition, they received complaints about suspected discrimination on gender and disability.
Additionally, on behalf of the former workers, Liss-Riordan filed three complaints against Twitter with the National Labor Relations Board.
She submitted an additional 100 demands for arbitration against the social media business on Thursday on behalf of the fired employees.
The demands come after the first 100 in December.
Additionally, the employees won their legal battle early on in December.
Before asking them to sign separation agreements that include a release of claims, a judge ordered Twitter to advise the former workers of the litigation that is currently underway.
References:
Two months after mass Twitter layoffs, affected employees still waiting for severance offers
