Failing to reply to e-mail from Elon Musk results in US$600,000 award for ex-employee

A former senior worker at Twitter’s European headquarters in Ireland has been awarded greater than €550,000 for unfair dismissal following his failure to reply to an e-mail from Elon Musk, in response to experiences.

Gary Rooney, who served as a director of a procurement function at Twitter International in Dublin, was dismissed shortly after Musk took over X, which was previously referred to as Twitter.

But Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) dominated in Rooney’s favour, setting a report for unfair dismissal awards within the nation, The Guardian reported.

Shortly after the acquisition, Musk despatched an e-mail to staff outlining his imaginative and prescient for “Twitter 2.0,” which included lengthy hours and high-intensity work.

“Going ahead, to construct a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and reach an more and more aggressive world, we’ll must be extraordinarily hardcore,” Musk wrote within the e-mail as quoted by The Guardian.

The e-mail requested staff to verify their dedication by clicking a hyperlink, with those that didn’t reply being supplied three months’ severance pay.

Rooney was one of many staff who didn’t click on “sure” on the hyperlink offered within the message. He then acquired an e-mail three days later from Twitter acknowledging his “determination to resign” and confirming his acceptance of a voluntary separation supply.

He was advised that he was thought of to have resigned on November 18, 2022, together with his entry to the corporate’s programs deactivated.

Rooney contested this in an e-mail to Twitter per week later, stating: “At no time have I indicated to Twitter that I’m resigning my place, nor have I seen any separation settlement not to mention accepted one.”

WRC’s ruling on ‘voluntary’ resignation

During a five-day listening to on the WRC in Dublin, Rooney testified that he initially believed Musk’s e-mail was spam or malware and was afraid to open it.

Twitter argued that Rooney’s failure to reply to Musk’s e-mail constituted voluntary resignation.

According to Lauren Wegman, Twitter’s senior director of human sources, the corporate accepted the resignations of 35 staff who didn’t click on “sure” to Musk’s e-mail. A complete of 270 folks acquired the message.

The WRC, nevertheless, rejected this declare, with WRC adjudicator Michael MacNamee ruling that the 24-hour discover interval offered in Musk’s e-mail was not “cheap.”

MacNamee awarded Rooney €550,131, which covers misplaced remuneration from January 2023 to May 2024 of €350,131 and estimated misplaced future earnings of €200,000.