Ex-Twitter employee, Halli Thorleifsson, took to the online platform to ask Elon Musk if he has been fired.
In a tweet to Mr Musk, he wrote: “Your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am employed or not”.
After the Tweet attracted much attention, Mr Musk responded by asking: “What work have you been doing?”
A back-and-forth exchange between the two eventually led to Mr Thorleifsson receiving an email confirming that he had indeed been laid off.
Mr Musk has been accused of humiliating the former Twitter employee, as he wrote: “He’s the worst, sorry.”
He has since deleted this tweet, and tweeted an apology: “I would like to apologise to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.”
Mr Musk has said that he is considering coming back to Twitter.
His role was a senior director in product design.
Paul Holcroft, Managing Director at Croner, comments on the recent layoffs at Twitter:
“At the moment, it’s unclear how much of Twitter’s UK-based workforce are affected by the recent round of redundancies. However, as the cost-of-living crisis continues to put strain on organisation’s profitability, it’s somewhat unsurprising that several businesses are looking at ways to make cost savings and protect their long-term financial viability. However, it’s important for employers to exhaust all other options and not jump straight to making staff redundant. Failing to take into consideration and/or trial alternatives could lead to successful claims of unfair dismissal.
“Some alternatives may include removing overtime work, halting recruitment processes, seeking agreement to reduce salaries or working hours and temporary periods of lay off or short time working. If these aren’t feasible, employers must remember that a genuine and meaningful consultation period must take place before any dismissals can be confirmed.
“In the USA, redundancy or “lay-off” rules differ greatly than that in the UK. As such, employers shouldn’t see the reports of “Twitter layoffs” as a green light to undertake similar dismissals of staff. Those who do so will likely face tribunal action from discontent employees. “
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.