Musk wins $500m severance suit by Ex-Twitter staff
By DL News
Published
1 min read
Judge Trina Thompson ruled that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate that their claims were protected under federal law.
A court in the U.S. has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Twitter employees who claimed that billionaire Elon Musk unlawfully withheld around $500 million in severance payments after acquiring the company.
Judge Trina Thompson ruled that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate that their claims were protected under federal law.
This decision marks a victory for Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and promptly implemented significant changes, including mass layoffs.
These actions led to several lawsuits from ex-employees and vendors, alleging that the company failed to honor promised payments.
The dismissed lawsuit, filed in 2023 in a federal court in San Francisco by Courtney McMillian, the former head of total rewards at Twitter (now rebranded as X by Musk), argued that the company provided only one month of severance pay.
This was substantially less than the promised benefits, which included at least two months' salary and health insurance contributions.
Musk's legal team contended that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which sets standards for private health and pension plans in the U.S., did not apply to this case.
