Elon Musk Owes Ex-Twitter Employees $500 Million

When Elon Musk took over Twitter last year,

he immediately began laying off employees until only about 1,500 remained.

A former human resources manager for Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the company,

claiming that thousands of employees he let go were not given adequate severance pay

Twitter is being accused in a class action lawsuit of withholding at least $500 million in severance pay.

The lawsuit details Twitter's 2019 severance policy,

which promised terminated employees two months' salary plus one extra week's pay for every year of service.

According to Courtney McMillian,

Twitter's former Head of Total Rewards and People Experience,

the company provided severance packages of no more than one month's pay to some employees.

This lawsuit is distinct from others in that it alleges that Twitter and Musk broke a federal law governing employee benefit plans,

as opposed to a contractual breach.