Staff members of X (formerly Twitter) in Africa who said they were sacked and ghosted by the company without severance pay or benefits have threatened to sue the giant microblogging company over failure to pay out the redundancy money they were promised.
BBC News reports that most of the sacked staff members had only been in the job for a few months when the company owned by one of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk relieved them of their duties in November 2022.
One of the sacked workers told BBC, “It’s difficult when it’s the world’s richest man owing you money and closure.”
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that it has approached X for comment several times but was rebuffed with, among other things, a smiling poo emoji, and “Busy now, please check back later.”
Musk, who took over the company in 2022 embarked on a massive global cull of the company’s employees, sacking more than 6,000 people. The billionaire said that he was losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day.
As the sacked workers raged, the company had previously claimed that it had paid the sacked employees in full.
It was reported that the African contingents – fewer than 20 – had only just moved into X’s new office in Accra, Ghana, following about eight months of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sacked staff members told the BBC that their treatment by X had harmed their mental health and family finances, adding that they were initially told that although their contracts were being terminated, they would be paid to work for one more month.
But they were immediately locked out of their emails and no further salary payments were made, and since then, they have been involved in a frustrating year-long struggle with X for compensation.
Carla Olympio from Agency Seven Seven, the company providing legal representation to the staff was quoted as saying: “Every time we get close, they go silent for weeks on end with no explanation. It has been one year since they were all laid off, defeating the entire purpose of a redundancy package, which is meant to cushion employees against the adverse effects of being laid off.”
In September, both parties agreed that all discussions and a settlement would need to be concluded by October 5 at the latest, but Agency Seven Seven said this was the latest of many deadlines X has ignored.
Agency Seven Seven said that X only began negotiations with the sacked Africa staff after the BBC covered the story. But these negotiations have gone nowhere.
“We are now concluding arrangements with international colleague lawyers to pursue the matter in other jurisdictions, where Twitter, now X, might perhaps be compelled to do the right thing.
“With currency fluctuations, the entire payment due to them now would be less than a drop in the ocean and yet 12 months later, no payment. It is inexcusable.
“It is a shame that the company, since its takeover by Mr Musk… should apparently be so reluctant to do right by this very small Africa team,” Ms Olympio said.
This lawsuit against X brought by the Africa team is the latest in a number of cases against the company by other ex-employees, some of whom say they are yet to be compensated following Mr Musk’s $44bn (£39.3bn) takeover last year.
Earlier this year, X was hit by a lawsuit, filed by ex-employees in a California court, for allegedly refusing to pay at least $500m in promised severance packages.
It was reported that globally, the arbitration cases against the organisation stood at more than 2,200 as of August this year. (SaharaReporters)
