11-15-2022
On October 28, 2022, Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter and met with human resources executives. As one of his first acts, Musk ordered immediate employee layoffs. Newspapers have reported that Musk laid off half of Twitter's workforce, including its top executives. However, Musk reportedly asked some engineers, designers, and project managers to come back because it turns out that he needs their experience to build the new features he wants.
In his first email to the remaining employees of Twitter, Musk said he expects employees to work in person for at least 40 hours per week. Employees who want to work from home must receive approval directly from Musk. Under its previous leadership, Twitter allowed employees the option to work remotely indefinitely. Musk also eliminated the monthly "days of rest" generally included in the staff's calendars. Employees will reportedly be given 60 days to relocate to an area close to a Twitter office. The company is based in San Francisco and has six other offices around the U.S. Musk also told employees the "road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed." In fact, Musk said, "there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn."
Quickly after the layoffs, attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan filed a class action lawsuit against Twitter, alleging the layoffs violated federal laws. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers with at least 100 workers to provide advance notice of layoffs involving 500 or more employees and provide employees with 60 days of severance pay. Twitter laid off 3700+ employees. The statute applies to private and publicly held companies.