Remember when Elon Musk ordered twitter staff two years ago to click “yes” on an email to promise they would work “extremely hard” or risk losing their jobs? One of those employees who didn’t click “yes” just won a significant ruling, according to Irish news service twitter-senior-executive/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:RTÉ;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas” class=”link “>RTE.
Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruled that Gary Rooney, a former senior executive at the company then known as twitter, was unfairly dismissed when he refused to accept Musk’s email ultimatum by 2022 after nine years at the social media company. The commission also ordered x to pay Rooney €550,000 (about $605,000).
WRC referee Michael MacNamee said Musk's demand to click “yes” was unfair because refusing to do so “could not constitute an act of resignation.” The company therefore had no grounds to justify Rooney's dismissal, the media report said.
In November 2022, just a month after taking over the social media company, Musk sent an email to all twitter employees offering them a commitment ultimatum. The email, which had the subject line “A Crossroads,” told then-twitter staff that they should expect to work “extremely hard,” including “long, high-intensity hours.” Musk gave his staff the opportunity to click on a link in the email “if you are sure you want to be part of the new twitter,” and gave them 24 hours to accept the commitment by clicking the link or declining to do so. Those who did not click the link would be fired and receive three months of severance pay.
MacNamee ruled that the 24-hour deadline Musk gave was not “reasonable notice” for his employees to consider the fate of their jobs. He also said that no employee “could be faulted for refusing to be forced to give open and unreserved assent to any of the proposals.” twitter’s human resources department confirmed that Rooney’s dismissal was due to his decision not to click on the link in the email despite not knowing about a potential severance package or the implications of staying at the company.
Rooney is not the latest of Musk’s former employees to take their former employer to court, either over its behavior or what they saw as unfair termination. A lawsuit filed earlier this year by a former SpaceX employee accused the company of gender discrimination and basic protection failures.
