In November 2022, shortly after multi-billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter (now known as X), he sent out an email to employees. It looks like that email just cost the company the equivalent of around $600,000.
Titled “A Fork in the Road”, the email told recipients: “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” and warned that anyone who didn’t respond by 5 p.m. the following day would “receive three months of severance.”
Recently, the Workplace Relations Commission in Ireland ordered the company to pay up for one of the employees who did not click “yes” on the email, according to a report from RTE. Gary Rooney, the employee, filed a complaint arguing that Musk’s email violated Irish law and claiming that the company refused to engage with him. On the other hand, Twitter claimed that Rooney made a conscious decision to resign.
Evidence in the case was heard during five hearings from last November through this May, said RTE.
“In a 73-page ruling, WRC adjudication officer Michael MacNamee, concluded Mr. Rooney’s employment came to an end solely because he did not click ‘yes’ to the e-mail,” since he was blocked from accessing programs he needed to do his work, said RTE. “The decision not to click ‘yes’, Mr. MacNamee said, was not capable of constituting an act of resignation.”
In fact, MacNamee said: “No employee when faced with such a situation could possibly be faulted for refusing to be compelled to give an open-ended unqualified assent to any of the proposals.”
If Rooney had clicked “yes” he would not know if the move could have impacted his benefits and stock options without his knowledge, per the report.
Rooney said he believed Musk’s email took many Twitter employees by surprise and that he even thought it was a scam email at first. WRC said the email was sent to 270 employees and 235 clicked “yes” on it. After working for the company for nine years, Rooney was terminated as director of “Source of Pay” on Dec. 18, 2022. Eventually, he found other employment at a bank.
Barry Kenny, Rooney’s solicitor, said they were “very pleased” with the outcome of the case. RTE said the Rooney was awarded more than the previous highest unfair dismissal case handled by the WRC.
ARS Technica reported that a spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment – which handles the WRC’s media inquiries – said decision will be published Aug. 26 on the WRC’s website after both parties have had “the opportunity to consider it in full.”