by Twitter has been ordered to pay a record fine of more than €550,000 (£470,000) to a former senior executive at its European headquarters in Ireland after it was found that the company had unfairly fired him for failing to respond to an email from Elon Musk calling on staff to behave “extremely harshly”.
When Musk paid $44 billion for the social media platform in October 2022, which he renamed X the following year, Gary Rooney was director of source-to-pay, a procurement function, in Twitter International’s Dublin office.
Within weeks of the takeover, the billionaire sent a message to employees outlining his vision for the company.
“To break through with Twitter 2.0 in the future and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we must be extremely tough,” wrote the South African-born entrepreneur.
“This means long hours of high intensity work. Only exceptional performance is enough to pass an exam.”
The message was known as a “fork in the road,” a phrase Musk used again this week in reference to America during an interview late Monday with former President Donald Trump, who the Tesla chief said offered a “path to prosperity.”
In the email, Musk wrote: “If you are sure you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click the link below and click yes.” He added that employees who do not do so would receive severance pay equal to three months’ salary.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Ireland’s employment tribunal, learned that Rooney had not clicked “yes”.
Three days later, on November 19, he received another email from the company confirming “your decision to resign and accept the voluntary severance offer.”
Rooney, who had been with the company since 2013, was told his resignation was effective November 18 and his access to the Twitter system had been disabled.
A week later, he wrote in an email on Twitter: “At no time did I notify Twitter that I was leaving my position, nor did I see or accept a severance agreement.”
Giving evidence at a five-day hearing in Dublin, Rooney told the WRC that he loved his job before the ownership change that saw Musk take control of the platform.
Rooney said his first reaction to the “Fork in the Road” email was disbelief and he was initially afraid to open it because he feared it was spam or malware.
After receiving the email, he wrote to a colleague via the company’s internal messaging system: “I must step away for my own good. What is currently going on here is deeply disturbing to me.”
In a message to another colleague, Rooney said: “Twitter 2.0 is not for you and me.”
Twitter unsuccessfully claimed that Rooney’s failure to click “yes” in response to the email suggested he had voluntarily resigned.
Human resources director Lauren Wegman told the hearing that the email was sent to staff in Ireland who were not among the 140 employees already laid off following the takeover. She said 235 of the 270 employees who received the email clicked “yes”.
Regarding the remaining 35 employees, she said: “We have accepted their resignations.”
According to Wegman, the mood among employees at the time was mixed: some were enthusiastic about “Twitter 2.0,” while others were more negative and wanted to leave.
In his findings published in a 73-page decision document, WRC referee Michael MacNamee stated that 24 hours was not a “reasonable period of time”.
He said Rooney’s messages to colleagues outlining his reservations about Musk’s acquisition “are not relevant to the question of what led to the plaintiff’s termination of employment.”
The total unfair dismissal compensation of €550,131 – an Irish record – consists of Rooney’s lost remuneration of €350,131 for the period January 2023 to May 2024 and an estimated lost future remuneration of €200,000.
Barry Kenny, a lawyer for Rooney, said he welcomed “the clear and unequivocal finding that my client did not terminate his employment but was unfairly dismissed, despite his excellent employment performance and his years of contribution to the company.”
He said: “It is not right for Mr Musk or any major company to treat its employees in this country like this. The record sum reflects the seriousness and gravity of the case.”
In response to an email sent to Twitter’s press office, the response was: “Busy at the moment, please check back later.”
