Numerous sources consulted by CNN say former employees of Twitter Africa who were let go as part of a global cost-cutting measure after Elon Musk’s acquisition have not received any severance pay in more than seven months.
The former workers, who were based in Accra, Ghana, accepted Twitter’s offer at the end of May for three months of severance pay, costs for moving back home, and legal fees. But, according to the sources, they haven’t gotten the agreed-upon payment or any other word from the company.
“They literally ghosted us,” a former Twitter employee in Africa told CNN. They were upset because former employees in other places finally got settlements, but the Africa team hasn’t gotten anything, even though they agreed to specific terms during negotiations.
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Carla Olympio, a lawyer for the former workers, said that Twitter’s way of handling the layoffs was unethical because it broke its own promises and Ghanaian law. She was upset that the negotiations took so long and that the company didn’t say anything after that.
Olympio said, “Unfortunately, it appears that after having unethically implemented their terminations in violation of their own promises and Ghana’s laws, dragging the negotiation process out for over half a year, now that we have come to the point of almost settlement, there has been complete silence from them for several weeks.”
Olympio stated that the former staffers are exploring legal options against Twitter in various jurisdictions, including Ghana.
Even though it was smaller than in other places, the former employees reluctantly accepted the severance package that didn’t include any perks. Another former employee said that Twitter didn’t respond until they agreed to the three-month deal because the team was scared, tired, and sick of not knowing what would happen and didn’t want to go to court.
The former workers spoke on the condition that they could not be named because they had signed agreements not to tell anyone about their jobs.
Carla Olympio said the last time Twitter or its lawyers talked to her was in May, not long after the deal was reached.
Twitter hasn’t said anything about the state of the severance package for the people who used to work in the Ghana office. Instead, they sent a poop emoji as an automated response. It’s still not clear if Twitter has a public relations department or not.
A spokesperson for Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations said that the reports are being looked into. But it’s still not clear if Ghanaian officials have the power to force Twitter to follow the deal.
The former workers and their lawyer said that the payment offer was never finalized, which made them even more upset and worried.
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The workers were let go just four days after Twitter opened a physical office in Accra in November of the previous year. Some of the people who were hurt had moved to Ghana from other African countries and relied on their jobs at Twitter to stay in the country legally.
Several former workers are suing Twitter and Elon Musk for not paying them what they are owed. In a recent case, a former US employee said that Twitter did not live up to its promise of severance benefits by giving only three months’ pay instead of the agreed-upon six months of base pay plus other benefits.
In April, Musk said that since late October, when he bought Twitter, over 6,000 people had lost their jobs.
Twitter didn’t start talking to the African team until November, when CNN stated that the terms of their separation were different from those given to staff in Europe and North America.