Elon Musk dodges $500M lawsuit from ex-Twitter staff

Elon Musk wins a legal victory in the face of a lawsuit by dismissed former employees of Twitter, now renamed X.

A federal court in San Francisco dismissed a suit by former Twitter employees seeking $500 million in compensation.

Elon Musk was accused of failing to pay $500 million to more than 6,000 laid-off employees…

…following its acquisition of Twitter, a transaction valued at $44 billion and finalized on October 27, 2022.

The judge in charge of the case determined that the dismissed employees were not entitled to severance pay under the federal Employee Retirement Insurance Security Act.

One of Musk’s first measures after acquiring Twitter in 2022 was to significantly reduce the company’s workforce.

In response, the dismissed employees filed several lawsuits seeking financial compensation.

Elon Musk announced at the time that all employees leaving the company would receive severance pay equivalent to three months’ salary.

However, the plaintiffs alleged that some employees had received only one month’s salary or no severance pay at all.