Many employees posted about their job losses on Twitter, including Moushmi, an engineering manager, who tweeted, “And after 6.5 years, it comes to an end. This timeline is hurting tonight with me … #lovewhereyouworked "
Some employees received vitriol, criticism, and flippant comments from real accounts and trolls.
“Tweeps do not deserve this,” Lum tweeted in reference to fired Twitter employees. “On the one side, your own friends make light of the impending layoffs with the “I was laid off from twitter” meme. On the other, pure vitriol from Elon’s minions delighting in complete strangers losing their jobs and insulting us.”
Although tech workers often receive higher salaries compared to workers in other industries, many Twitter employees also sought better working conditions for other people, Lum said.
“To all the people showing up in tweeps’ mentions to revel in the layoffs because we had it better than they did: us having good salaries and humane working conditions didn’t lessen your ability to have that too,” she tweeted. “We weren’t hoarding those things; we want them for you too.”
Some employees were more sanguine, like Yash Agarwal, who worked on the public policy team in India.
“Just got laid off. Bird App, it was an absolute honour, the greatest privilege ever to be a part of this team, this culture #LoveWhereYouWorked #LoveTwitter "
Musk Faces Legal Issues Twitter could face numerous lawsuits from employees since they were not given much notice for the firings. California, along with European countries such as the U.K., Belgium, and France, have strict laws governing the layoffs of employees and the amount of notice they must receive beforehand.
Disgruntled former Twitter employees in the U.S. already have launched a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. In the Nov. 3 complaint, the plaintiffs, Emmanuel Cornet, Justine De Caires, Grae Kindel, Alexis Camacho, and Jessica Pan, accuse the company of failing to meet the legal notice period for mass layoffs.
Rachel Bonn was fired and stated she was pregnant. Situations like hers could lead to potential discrimination lawsuits.
“Last Thursday in the SF office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter. 8 months pregnant and have a 9 month old. Just got cut off from laptop access #LoveWhereYouWorked ,” នាងបានសរសេរលើបណ្តាញសង្គម។
Late Friday, Musk defended the layoffs in a tweet, saying “unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.” He added that “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”