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The Irish Sun
21 hours ago
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Elon Musk's Twitter takeover created ‘uncertainty and fear' in Irish staff, former executive tells court
THE takeover of Twitter by billionaire businessman Elon Musk in 2022 created 'uncertainty and fear' among staff after they were given less than 48 hours to make a decision about their future with the company, the Labour Court has heard. A former senior executive in the company's 2 Mr Rooney described the change after the billionaire's takeover as 'fairly chaotic' Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images Mr Rooney described the change in the business after the billionaire's takeover as 'fairly chaotic'. The claim was made during an appeal by Twitter International against a ruling by the Workplace Relations Commission that it should pay a record award of €550,131 in compensation to Mr Rooney after ruling that he had been unfairly dismissed from his job. Mr Rooney is separately appealing the award amount and claiming the figure should be €689,406 to represent the maximum sum of two years' remuneration. He estimates his ongoing monthly loss at €16,753. The Labour Read more in News Mr Rooney, who was Director of Source to Pay with Twitter, claims the company decided he had resigned when he failed to click a button requiring him to agree new unspecified pay and conditions within a short deadline in response to an e-mail entitled 'A Fork in the Road' from Mr Musk on November 16, 2022. However, Twitter maintains that Mr Rooney was never dismissed and it was perfectly clear that he was choosing to leave the organisation when he decided not to click a 'Yes' button. Twitter is also disputing that restricted stock units awarded on a discretionary basis should be part of the calculation of his remuneration and claims Mr Rooney's estimated losses are 'wildly inaccurate.' In evidence, Mr Rooney said he never considered that he had resigned from the company. MOST READ IN THE IRISH SUN He claimed Mr Musk's takeover of the company was 'very consequential' as there were rumours of substantial layoffs among its workforce. He said: 'The prevailing mood was anxiety and fear about what could come down the road." Trump warns Elon Musk he could be forced out of US as he threatens to unleash DOGE 'monster' to 'eat' tech billionaire The three-person Labour Court division, chaired by Louise O'Donnell, heard 50 per cent of Twitter's global staff were made redundant within two weeks, while Mr Rooney had no time to argue a case for keeping his own team of nine employees. He noted that all decisions were being made by a small team of people from other companies owned by Mr Musk, such as Mr Rooney told his counsel, Padraic Lyons SC, that an instruction to stop all payments to suppliers as well as expenses to staff resulted in a 'very stressful' and 'very emotional time'. He recalled seeing Mr Musk's e-mail for the first time when he was on a DART at around 8am on November 16, 2022. 'EXTREMELY HARDCORE' He said: 'I really didn't know what to think or what it would mean." In the e-mail, staff were told that they would need to be 'extremely hardcore' in building 'Twitter 2.0' and 'only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade." Anyone who did not click 'yes' by 10pm Irish time the following day would receive three months' severance. Although he always regarded himself as high performing and someone who worked long hours, Mr Rooney said he did not know if he would make the passing grade. 'CONFUSION AND DISBELIEF' He pointed out he received another document at 2.19am on November 17, 2022 which sought to clarify issues about Mr Musk's e-mail. Mr Rooney said it seemed to have been sent because the e-mail did not seem like an official communication from a head of an organisation and staff had regarded it with 'confusion and disbelief.' He did not know what he was being asked to sign up to and there was no chain of command from which he could get further information. Mr Rooney said he expected his work hours would be extended and he would be asked to work very late into the night and through weekends which he was not prepared to do. WORK COMPUTER ACCESS CUT OFF He told the hearing that a webinar hosted from San Francisco on November 16, 2022 had provided no extra useful information but that Mr Musk expected a lot from his staff. The message was that Twitter's owner was a great person and everything he did was for the betterment of humanity, Mr Rooney recalled. He claimed workers were told that they should be enthusiastic about working for the businessman 'because of the person that he was.' The Labour Court heard that Mr Rooney's access to his work computer system was cut off in the middle of the night on November 17, 2022. FAILURE TO RESPOND CLAIMS He claimed Twitter had failed to reply to him within three days as promised when he had complained that he had not resigned or even seen any separation agreement. In correspondence on December 7, 2022, he was informed that the company was treating his decision not to click the 'Yes' button as him serving notice to resign. Mr Rooney said further letters from his solicitor to Twitter did not receive any response. He claimed he was given inadequate notice to make a significant decision about his career. 'I DON'T THINK THAT WAS REASONABLE' He said: 'To have 12 hours to make a decision of that magnitude – I don't think that was reasonable." Mr Rooney gave evidence that he applied for at least 68 other positions before securing alternative employment with a large financial institution nine months later. The Labour Court heard that his current total remuneration in his new job is €135,000, including a basic salary of €109,000. Under cross-examination by counsel for Twitter, Cathy Smith SC, Mr Rooney accepted it was clear that he needed to click 'Yes' if he wanted to stay working with the company. DISAGREED WITH PRINCIPLE However, he claimed it was not just if you wanted to stay but stay under new conditions which were unclear. He said: 'I did not know what pressing 'Yes' meant." Mr Rooney accepted that no threat had been made to employees but said he disagreed with the principle of what was being done in the e-mail. Ms Smith said he had also posted messages to colleagues that he was leaving the company and the reality was that he did not want to work for a company owned by Mr Musk. 'NOT THAT BLACK AND WHITE' However, Mr Rooney replied that it was 'not that black and white' as he had been unhappy many times over the years with the direction of Twitter's leadership but he had stuck it out. He stressed he would have returned to work if access to his computer system had not been cut. In an opening submission, Mr Lyons said Mr Rooney had been an exemplary employee with long and distinguished service over nine years with Twitter. However, the barrister said Mr Musk's acquisition of the company had resulted in a 'profound attack on established norms' and an attempt to dismantle staff entitlements. 'TOTALLY EXTRAORDINARY' He claimed the 'Fork in the Road' e-mail was 'totally extraordinary and unprecedented.' Mr Lyons described what happened as 'a paradigm case of unfair dismissal.' However, Ms Smith disputed that Mr Rooney had been dismissed and noted his role had not been identified as redundant, despite a significant reduction in the company's workforce. The barrister highlighted how the company's difficulties had begun before Mr Musk's takeover in 2022. HEARING TO RESUME She observed that Mr Rooney was the only person to claim he had been unfairly dismissed and to be confused about what the e-mail had meant. Ms Smith said he had also never raised a grievance before he left his employment with Twitter on December 18, 2022. She also noted that payments to suppliers and expenses to staff had been paused to allow a complete audit of such payments to be carried out. The Labour Court heard Twitter's global workforce has been reduced from 8,000 to just over 1,000, while the number of staff in its Dublin office has fallen from 270 to just over 100. The hearing was adjourned and will resume on Wednesday when it is expected to conclude. 2 Elon Musk's Twitter takeover caused 'uncertainty and fear', Gary Rooney told a court Credit: Colin Keegan/Collins
Irish Independent
21 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Irish Twitter worker claims he was given ultimatum to sign up to new reality of platform, tribunal told as company challenges €550,000 payout
LATEST | The social media giant will argue that Gary Rooney made a 'conscious decision' not to click 'yes' in response to an email from Elon Musk, knowing it would lead to his resignation Today at 14:43 A former executive at Twitter has claimed that he was given an ultimatum to sign up to the new reality of Twitter 2.0, 'or not'. Gary Rooney told the Labour Court this morning that staff were worried that a famous 'fork in the road' email from Elon Musk was a phishing attempt to harm the company and were concerned that the message was not genuine.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Twitter challenges €500,000 WRC award over ‘enhanced opportunity' to depart job
A senior Dublin-based manager with Twitter who was deemed by the company to have resigned when he failed to sign up to the new 'hard-core' work environment set out by Elon Musk had, in fact, availed of an 'enhanced opportunity' to depart with severance pay, the company has told the Labour Court . Twitter International Unlimited, now X , is appealing awards totalling €550,131 made to Gary Rooney by the Workplace Relations Commission last year over the circumstances of his departure from the company's Dublin office where he had been employed for nine years by late 2022 when Mr Musk bought the firm for $44 billion (€38.15 billion). Mr Rooney, a financial manager with global responsibilities in a number of areas, says he was unfairly dismissed and continues to be more than €16,000 out of pocket per month due to the cut in salary he has taken since starting work with a bank as well as the loss of substantial bonuses linked to Twitter's share performance before its sale. He puts his total losses to date at €689,406 and is seeking that amount. Cathy Smith SC for X, contends Mr Rooney resigned and described the estimated losses as 'wildly inaccurate'. READ MORE Mr Rooney characterised the atmosphere within the company in the weeks after the Musk takeover as 'chaotic' as thousands of employees were made redundant and senior managers from other Musk companies were brought in to decide who should be retained or let go. About half of the firm's staff lost their jobs, he said, with senior Twitter managers given no opportunity to say which members of their teams should be impacted. He said the situation caused widespread 'fear and anxiety' among the remaining workers. [ Twitter ordered to pay record €550,000 to senior executive in Ireland Opens in new window ] On November 16th, Mr Musk sent an email titled 'Fork in the Road' to the company's remaining employees. In this, he said that to 'build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hard-core. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.' The email required employees to click 'yes' in a link at the bottom of the email. Anyone who did not do so by 10pm Irish time the following day, it said, would receive three months' pay in severance. 'Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful,' Mr Musk said. The following morning the company followed up with an Frequently Asked Questions document in which it said those who did not sign up in the way outlined in Mr Musk's email would subsequently receive documentation outlining the terms of the departure. Mr Rooney, who received gross pay of €334,114.84 during 2022 until December 18th when his employment formally ended, said he did not know what the implications of signing up would be as he already routinely worked in excess of 40 hours per week and had been recognised through a variety of significant bonuses to be a high performer. He said he approached his manager seeking additional information but he did not have any and both of his US-based immediate superiors had already been fired. 'I didn't really know what to think. I always would have considered myself to be a high performer but I didn't know if that high performance would meet that passing grade. I already worked long hours but I didn't know whether I would be expected to work longer hours or have them assigned to me'. He said he was also unsure about how benefits included in his remuneration package might be altered as the FAQ said detail of this would be provided in the following days. Asked by counsel, Padraic Lyons SC, briefed Barry Kenny of Kenny Sullivan Solicitors whether his situation might reasonably be described as 'an enhanced opportunity' to go, as Ms Smith, briefed by Mason Hayes and Curran for X, had suggested, he said he didn't know how it could characterised as such. 'I had no way of knowing what the implications of ticking the box might be,' he said, adding that he did not believe the 12 hours he was effectively allowed to make a decision from the receipt of the FAQ document was reasonable. Asked if he believed he had tendered his resignation by not ticking the box, he said: 'No. Absolutely not.'
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Labour Court to hear X appeal of payout for unfair dismissal to former Irish executive
The main Irish unit of Elon Musk's X will commence its appeal at the Labour Court on Tuesday against a ruling that it must pay out an Irish record unfair dismissal award of €550,131 to a former executive. In the ruling last August, Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator, Michael MacNamee found that Twitter International UC - since renamed X Internet Unlimited Company - unfairly dismissed the company's former Director Source to Pay, Gary Rooney in December 2022 after he failed to respond to Elon Musk's 'Fork in the Road' email. Mr Rooney has yet to receive any of the monies as the case is before the Labour Court on appeal from Twitter International UC. The published Labour Court diary confirms that the Labour Court has set aside hearing days for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at the Labour Court's Dublin HQ for the appeal. Solicitor for Mr Rooney, Barry Kenny of Kenny Sullivan Solicitors in Bray declined to comment on Monday ahead of the appeal. However, commenting last month on the impending Labour Court hearing, Mr Kenny said: 'My client is anxious to put all this all behind him.' He said last month: 'The WRC determined that X's treatment of him as a long standing and loyal employee amounted to an unfair dismissal. Mr Rooney is anxious that the Labour Court will affirm this decision.' Mr Kenny said: 'It is open to the Labour Court to increase or reduce sums awarded in the WRC as it will be a De Novo hearing.' He said last month that X had advised that they intend to call at least three witnesses while Mr Rooney is the only witness in his own case. At the WRC, Twitter International UC fully contested Mr Rooney's claim, over five days of hearing, contending that he had resigned voluntarily. In his findings, Mr MacNamee found that Mr Rooney was dismissed because he did not click 'yes' to Elon Musk's 'Fork in the Road' email on November 16, 2022 and for that reason alone. On November 16, 2022, Mr Rooney and the Twitter workforce received an email from the world's richest man, Mr Musk who said: 'To build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing a grade." Mr Musk said: 'If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below.' After Mr Rooney opted not to click 'yes' on the link, three days later on November 19, 2022, Mr Rooney received a further company email which stated that it is 'to acknowledge your decision to resign and accept the voluntary separation offer'. On receiving Mr Musk's 'Fork in the Road' email, Mr Rooney said his first reaction was disbelief and he was initially afraid even to open it for fear that it was spam or malware. The record €550,131 award was made up of Mr Rooney's remuneration losses of €350,131 from January 2023 to May 2024 and estimated future remuneration losses of €200,000. The remuneration losses were based on Mr Rooney's Twitter remuneration of €323,560 made up of €151,225 in pay and €172,335 in deferred cash consideration. Mr Rooney secured a new role with an employer in the banking sector in September 2023 on total remuneration of €129,897.
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
High Court refuses judicial review of case against the producers of ‘Normal People'
This follows the High Court refusing leave to Thomas John Arkins for a High Court judicial review challenge of a Labour Court dismissal of his case against Element Pictures Ltd. Mr Arkins worked on the firm's production of the show Ripper Street. Mr Justice Garrett Simons said Mr Arkins 'has expressed a longstanding concern as to the manner in which production workers – to use a neutral term – are treated in the film industry'. The judge said: '[Mr Arkins' case is] that production workers have wrongfully been characterised as independent self-employed contractors rather than employees. Second, it is said that the use of individual companies for each film project obscures the identity of the actual employer.' Mr Arkins first took a case to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC)| against Element Pictures Ltd in 2019 and his claim was dismissed in 2020. Mr Arkins' case was heard before the Labour Court on two occasions and at the second hearing on April 4, 2024, Element Pictures Ltd opposed the complaints by asserting that Mr Arkins had never been employed by the company. In May last year, the Labour Court dismissed Mr Arkins' unfair dismissal claim and minimum notice claim against Element Pictures Ltd. Mr Justice Simons said Mr Arkins' claim was dismissed on the narrowest of grounds, that Mr Arkins had failed to establish he had at any time been employed by Element Pictures Ltd. In dismissing Mr Arkins application for a High Court judicial review, the judge said 'the leave application fails to meet the low threshold of an arguable case'. 'The central issue in contention before the Labour Court had been a factual issue, namely whether Mr Arkins had ever been engaged by or paid by Element Pictures Ltd,' the judge said. 'The Labour Court is much better placed than the court of judicial review to determine such a factual issue. 'The leave application in this case comes nowhere close to reaching the standard for intervention.' The judge said he has provided a written judgment which gives time to Mr Arkins to lodge an appeal to the Court of Appeal or an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
