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Twitter, now known as X, has been ordered to pay a record fine of more than €550,000 (around R$3 million) to Gary Rooney, a former senior employee at the company’s headquarters in Ireland, for unfair dismissal, The Guardian reports.
Rooney was fired after failing to respond to an email from Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and renamed the platform X the following year.
In the email, Musk urged employees to be “extremely hardcore,” suggesting they work long hours at high intensity.
He asked employees to click on a link to confirm their willingness to follow these new guidelines and offered three months of severance pay to those who chose not to accept.
Twitter employee abruptly fired
Rooney did not click on the link and received a second email informing him that his resignation was confirmed and that his access to Twitter systems had been disabled. He had worked at the company since 2013 and claimed that he had not indicated his intention to resign and had not received a formal separation agreement. During the hearing in Dublin, Rooney said he had been satisfied with his job before the acquisition and that he was disturbed by Musk’s email, fearing it was spam or malware.
Elon Musk reportedly asked employees at X, then still called Twitter, to work long hours – Image: kovop/Shutterstock
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The Irish Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found that the 24-hour notice period for dismissal was inadequate and the dismissal was unfair. The award includes €350,000 for lost earnings from January 2023 to May 2024 and €200,000 for estimated future earnings.
Rooney’s lawyer, Barry Kenny, said the ruling reflected the seriousness of the case and the inappropriate treatment of employees. Twitter, now known as X, had no immediate comment on the ruling.
Twitter underwent some changes after Elon Musk acquired the social network in 2022 – Image: Shutterstock/Omar ElDeraa
