Elon Musk's X attempts to settle lawsuits by sacked employees

They claim they were denied severance pay when the billionaire laid them off after acquiring the social media platform last year

X, formerly Twitter, has been accused of numerous labour and workplace offences in several cases. AP

Elon Musk’s X has agreed to try to settle claims by thousands of former Twitter employees who say they were cheated of severance pay when the billionaire laid them off after acquiring the social media platform last year.

“After 10 months of pressing them in every direction, we have succeeded in getting Twitter to the table,” lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan wrote in the memo to her clients, which was obtained from a former Twitter employee who refused to be identified.

“Twitter wants to mediate with us in a global attempt to settle all claims we have filed.”

The company, formerly known as Twitter, has been accused of labour and workplace offences in several cases, including a failure to pay severance wages to thousands of workers fired late last year after Mr Musk’s $44 billion acquisition.

About 2,000 former Twitter employees have resorted to fighting their claims in arbitration as the company has demanded, but Ms Liss-Riordan has complained in court filings that Twitter has not shown up.

X is complying with a court order to mediate, a source said.

The private negotiations with a mediator are set for December 1 and December 2, according to Ms Liss-Riordan’s memo.

“We are very proud to be representing nearly 2,000 former Twitter employees in individual arbitrations, as well as more than a dozen class action lawsuits in court,” Ms Liss-Riordan said on Wednesday night.

“We are working hard to recover what they are owed.”

She declined to elaborate or comment specifically on the scheduled mediation.

X representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, sent after regular business hours.