Former Twitter Engineers Claim To Be Fired After Share Links To Anticipate Mass LAYOFFS

Elon Musk's meme emerged after mass layoffs on Twitter Inc. (photo: twitter @GagetGuyNC)

JAKARTA - A former Twitter Inc engineer has complained the social media company fired him days after being acquired by Elon Musk. The dismissal was carried out because he developed a tool that would allow workers to store important documents to anticipate mass layoffs.

The engineer, Emmanuel Cornet, filed a complaint with the US National Labor Relations Council on Monday, November 7 claiming he was involved in protected activity when he shared the software on Twitter's internal messaging channel.

"Protected activities" are actions that workers can take without fear of retaliating employers under US labor laws.

Twitter itself did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on the allegations.

Cornet, based in San Francisco, said in a complaint that he was fired on November 1, days before Twitter began laying off about half of its 7,500 employees in an effort to cut costs by Musk, the world's richest man.

Cornet and four other Twitter employees filed a lawsuit in California's federal court on Friday 4 November accusing the social media company of violating federal and California laws requiring employers to provide a 60-day notice before mass layoffs.

Musk said in a series of tweets last Friday that dismissed Twitter workers were offered 90 severance pay days, which could fulfill Twitter's obligations under US labor laws.

Cornet in his complaint also said that late last month, amid rumors of mass layoffs on Twitter, he developed an extension of Google Chrome to allow employees to download emails from their Twitter accounts. The link will ensure workers can store important documents such as statements reflecting their stock on Twitter, performance reviews, and other human resource documents.

Cornet said he was fired on the same day when he published an extension and posted a link to an internal Twitter messaging channel. Twitter removed the link on the same day, according to Cornet's complaint.

If the NLRB issues a complaint against Twitter and eventually wins Cornet, it can order it to be restored by repayment and that the company should post a notification notifying employees of their rights under federal labor laws.