CNN business
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Elon Musk will begin laying off Twitter employees on Friday morning. In a memo sent to employees as several Twitter employees filed a class action lawsuit claiming the layoffs violated labor laws.
An email sent Thursday night informed employees that they would receive a notice of their employment status by 12:00 pm Friday.
A copy of the email, obtained by CNN, reads, “If your employment is not impacted, you will be notified by Twitter email.” You will receive notifications about steps.”
The email added that the company’s offices were “temporarily closed and access to all badges suspended” to “ensure the security” of its employees and Twitter’s systems.
The email concludes by acknowledging that it will be an “incredibly difficult experience” for employees.
The memo comes after news reports that Musk was planning to lay off up to half of the company’s staff after buying the company for $44 billion last week.
A class action lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that Twitter has violated the Federal Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notices Act (WARN Act) after it has already laid off some of its employees.
The WARN Act requires employers with more than 100 employees to give 60 days’ written notice before mass layoffs that “affect more than 50 employees at a single employment location.” .
In a statement to CNN, Shannon Rhys Riordan, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said: “The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, believes compliance with federal labor laws is ‘trivial’. “We are filing this federal complaint to ensure that Twitter remains accountable to our laws and to prevent Twitter employees from unknowingly waiving their rights. did.”
Twitter had about 7,500 employees before Musk acquired it.
Musk began his term at Twitter by firing CEO Parag Agrawal and two other executives, according to two people familiar with the decision.
Less than a week after Mr. Musk bought the company, management appears to have been wiped out almost entirely, with a mix of layoffs and resignations. Musk also dissolved Twitter’s former board of directors.
– Claire Duffy and Sean Nottingham contributed to this report
