Republished with full copyright permissions from The San Francisco Press.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk finds himself at the epicenter of yet another controversy. This time, it involves a lawsuit filed against Twitter Inc., accusing the social media giant of failing to honor promised severance payments totaling $500 million to thousands of employees who were laid off following Musk’s acquisition of the company. Let’s delve into the details and unravel the implications of this legal debacle.

Courtney McMillian, who oversaw Twitter’s employee benefits programs, claims that Twitter had established a severance plan in 2019, entitling most workers to receive two months’ base pay plus an additional week of pay for each full year of service if they were let go. According to the lawsuit, senior employees like McMillian were owed six months of base pay as severance. However, Twitter allegedly fell short of fulfilling its obligations, providing laid-off workers with no more than one month of severance pay, and many received no compensation at all.

This lawsuit against Twitter holds the potential for a captivating legal battle, with a host of eyebrow-raising circumstances likely to unfold. Observers speculate that esteemed law firm Wachtell may handle the case pro bono, intensifying the intrigue surrounding the proceedings. As the litigation proceeds, the possibility of discovering evidence, such as an email from HR to Elon Musk demanding the payment of agreed-upon severance, lingers. The level of anticipation heightens, wondering if Musk’s alleged disregard for employee contracts will be exposed or if there are additional surprises yet to come.

Elon Musk’s recurrent struggles with employment-related disputes raise concerns about the long-term viability of Twitter under his leadership. The repeated termination of managers despite being listed under a “Do Not Fire” directive begs the question of whether Musk was genuinely unaware of the potential contractual breaches. Given the mounting attrition and the uncertainties surrounding the future of the social media platform, it remains unclear how much longer Twitter can sustain itself. Alas, even Musk’s involvement in the popular Threads application is not exempt from legal entanglement, further complicating matters.