Twitter's Laid Off Workers In Africa Say They Weren't Offered Severance Pay
After Elon Musk acquired Twitter, his first course of action was to dissolve the board of directors at the company. All the top Twitter executives including the CEO, CFO, and legal head were fired with immediate effect. Next, around half of Twitter's employees faced the axe on Friday in a restructuring shake-up. Elon Musk tweeted "everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required." However, there could be a class-action lawsuit that is brewing against the social media company.
Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, insists that the company had no option but to cut down its workforce because "the company is losing over $4M/day." In addition to that, Twitter is planning to introduce a $7.99 monthly subscription for a blue badge that will be available to all users. Elon Musk has also floated the idea of bringing back Vine to take on TikTok.
A couple of weeks have passed since Elon Musk bought Twitter, and the shakeup dust hasn't settled yet. In another twist, it's now emerging that Twitter's employees based in Africa will reportedly have their contracts terminated under different conditions than their colleagues in other parts of the world.
They'll be paid only through early December
According to Larry Madowo, a CNN international correspondent, Twitter's staff in Africa who were purged on Friday said they weren't offered severance pay. "On Tuesday, after working remotely for about a year, Twitter's African staff in Ghana finally opened their physical location. On Friday morning, they were locked out of their email accounts [...] They then received email notifications on their personal email accounts that they were getting terminated," Larry Madowo told CNN.
Besides not offering severance, Twitter notified its employees in Africa that they will receive full employment benefits until December 4, 2022 — unlike their colleagues in the U.S. who will have their employment contracts officially terminated on February 2, 2023 (via Business Insider). Twitter's employees in India who were also part of the purge on Friday were notified that they will be on the company's payroll until January 4, 2023, CNBC TV reports.
NEW: Elon Musk laying off Twitter Africa staff appears to violate Ghanaian labor laws.
They feel insulted for being treated worse than colleagues in Europe & North America. "I just want the Africa team to be respected," one told me.
Some haven't even heard from their managers pic.twitter.com/oThwbSae5c
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) November 9, 2022
In another tweet, Larry Madowo reported that Twitter's laid-off workers in Africa "feel insulted for being treated worse than colleagues in Europe and North America." The less than 20 staff members based in Africa are reportedly discussing legal options with lawyers to counter Twitter's offer of no severance pay and only one month's notice of contract termination.