X Sued Over Unpaid Worker Severance After Elon Musk Takeover (1)

X Corp. failed to pay workers severance after Elon Musk took over the company in 2022 and laid off staff, a lawsuit alleges.

“Employees had been promised that, should they lose their jobs after the sale of the company, they would be entitled to severance pay, pursuant to Twitter’s pre-acquisition severance policy,” according to the lawsuit filed by former employees in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. “However, following Musk’s purchase of the company, Twitter reneged on this promise and did not pay the employees, including Plaintiffs, the promised severance.”

The plaintiffs are a group of employees who worked for the company in Massachusetts. Twitter paid them for three months between notifying them of the layoff and their final separation date, which “was not severance pay” but instead payment to comply with federal and state law, the complaint said.

The former employees “did not seek or obtain employment elsewhere during the uncertain period prior to Musk’s purchase of the company” based on the company’s representations, the complaint said.

The lawsuit is the latest action from former workers over the aftermath of the billionaire’s takeover of Twitter; they’ve brought lawsuits and arbitration proceedings in several jurisdictions.

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. represents the former employees.

The case is Ramirez v. Twitter Inc., D. Mass., No. 1:25-cv-11207, complaint filed 5/2/25.