Elon Musk: Twitter Abandons African Staff After Firing Without Severance Compensation
- Former Twitter employees in Ghana claim Twitter refused to fulfill its promises after laying them off in November 2022
- A source said affected employees were given less than a month's notice in contrast to employment legislation law
- Some people whose jobs were lost haven't found new employment despite having families to support
Former Twitter employees who were fired in Ghana in November 2022 were not given any severance compensation, and the company has not contacted them in three months, CNBC has reported.
According to Twitter, the action was necessary as part of a measure by the owner of the platform, Elon Musk, to cut costs. The billionaire, during the heat of the global job cut wave last year, tweeted that the company was losing over $4 million daily.
Source: UGC
Meanwhile, he noted that those who were affected - nearly all staff - were offered three months of severance, which equals 50% more than legally required.
According to Ghanaian employment legislation, employees must receive redundancy pay and three months' notice before being let go.
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However, sources from the business news claim that Twitter employees in Accra's capital were given less than a month.
How Twitter abandoned former workers
According to a source, the corporation mistreated the employees since the layoff. He added that no attempt was made to negotiate a severance until it was covered by worldwide media and the Ghanaian labor office became interested.
He said:
It’s been a tedious process and they rejected some of our requests, which we thought were fair given the circumstances and how we’ve been treated.
The workers eventually contacted Twitter through their attorney to accept what they perceived to be a weak severance package in May, but Twitter has remained silent ever since.
We played ball and accepted the offer that they made just so we could move forward with our lives. However, they have completely ignored us since our lawyer reached out to theirs to accept the offer in May. For many of us, expenses owed have also not been paid,” the second source added.
Another source told the news organisation that everyone is exhausted and irate and added that the compensation isn't even what was initially promised.
According to him, the delay in the anticipated severance is unfortunate because some people whose jobs were lost haven't found new employment despite having families to support.
Musk says Twitter has lost half its advertising revenue
In related news, Legit.ng reported that Twitter owner Elon Musk said the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last October had lost roughly half its advertising revenue.
Source: Legit.ng
