X: dismissal for contesting return to the office was illegal – 10/13/2023 – Market

Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) illegally fired an employee in retaliation for her online posts challenging the company’s return-to-office policy, the US labor board said on Friday.

In the complaint, the regional board of the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accused platform X of violating federal law that prohibits punishing employees for communicating and organizing with others about their working conditions.

The social network did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The NLRB said the dispute began on November 10, 2022, after Musk ordered workers to return to the office in November last year and allegedly said “if you can physically come to the office and you don’t show up, we accept your resignation “.

Employee Yao Yue responded with a Twitter post telling her co-workers: “Don’t quit, let him fire you.” A few days later, she was fired, which violates US labor relations laws, according to the complaint.

Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter for US$44 billion (around R$224 billion) in October last year and began his tenure with a series of layoffs, including senior executives, reducing more than half of the workforce as a measure of costs cut.

The company is facing a series of lawsuits arising from the layoffs, including allegations that it targeted the layoffs at women and workers with disabilities and that it failed to pay the severance pay promised to the fired employees.

The company has denied irregularities in the cases in which it presented responses.