Evidence Suggests Elon Musk’s X Violated Labor Laws in Firing Criticized Employee
X Allegedly Violates National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has formally accused Elon Musk’s X, the company formerly known as Twitter, of breaking the law by terminating an employee who criticized the management’s return-to-work policy. This marks the first complaint filed against X by the NLRB.
The NLRB’s “Region 20” San Francisco branch claimed that X violated the National Labor Relations Act when Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, was fired shortly after Musk assumed control of the company in late October. According to the NLRB, Yue was terminated after attempting to organize fellow Twitter workers who were displeased with Musk’s sudden alteration of the company’s work requirements.
Elon Musk’s Directive and Twitter’s Response
According to AsumeTech, Musk sent emails to Twitter employees outlining his expectations and warned that any manager who falsely praised an employee’s work or deemed a role essential, whether remote or not, would be terminated. “If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted,” Musk stated, as reported by the NLRB. This directive prompted several workers to voice their concern and outrage regarding the immediate return to the office, as stated in the original legal charge document filed in March.
Yue took to Twitter and tweeted, “Don’t resign, let him fire you. You gain literally nothing out of resignation.” Additionally, she posted a message in a company Slack channel advising colleagues, “Don’t be fired. Seriously.”
According to the legal charge document, many of Yue’s colleagues responded to her posts. Concurrently, Musk instructed his management team to monitor online posts and Slack conversations in order to identify individuals to terminate.
The Firing and Allegations
Five days after Yue’s posts, she was fired and informed that she had violated an undisclosed company policy, according to the legal document. “Ms. Yue alleges that Twitter chose her for layoff in retaliation for her attempt to organize her co-workers not to resign, so they would have better legal footing to challenge any separation from Twitter,” the document stated.
The NLRB alleges that X has been interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of their rights protected under national labor law.
A spokesperson for X has not responded to a request for comment at this time.
In a tweet on November 15, Yue expressed her sentiment about the firing, stating, “After 12 amazing years and 3 weeks of chaos, I’m officially fired by Twitter. Never expected I would have stayed this long, and never expected I would be this relieved to be gone.”
The NLRB states that it aims to “Make Yao Yue whole for any direct or foreseeable pecuniary harm, as well as other consequential damages suffered as a result of Respondent’s unlawful conduct,” and seeks to provide “all other relief as may be just and proper to remedy the unfair labor practices alleged.” A hearing for this case is scheduled for January 30 in San Francisco.