Former employees of Twitter Africa, based in Accra, Ghana, have reported that they have not received their severance pay or any communication from the company more than seven months after leaving their positions.
The layoffs were part of a global cost-cutting measure following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
According to CNN, which talked to unnamed laid-off employees, in late May, the former employees agreed to a severance package that included three months’ worth of pay, repatriation costs, and legal expenses incurred during negotiations. However, Twitter has not fulfilled its end of the agreement.
The former employees expressed their frustration, stating that Twitter was unresponsive until they reluctantly agreed to the terms. They accepted the package without benefits, even though it was inferior to what their colleagues in other regions received. Signing non-disclosure agreements as part of their exit terms, they requested anonymity when speaking to CNN.
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“They literally ghosted us,” a former Twitter Africa employee told the news outlet.
Carla Olympio, the attorney representing the former employees, revealed that the last communication from Twitter or its lawyers was in May, shortly after the settlement was agreed upon. CNN attempted to reach out to Twitter for comment, but they received an automated response in the form of a poop emoji, which has been the standard response since Musk dissolved the company’s media relations department shortly after he took over.
Around a dozen of the laid-off team members were terminated just four days after Twitter’s physical office opening in Accra last November. Some of these employees had moved to Ghana from other African nations and relied on their Twitter jobs for legal status in the country.
The situation in Ghana adds to Twitter’s legal woes, as they face multiple lawsuits from former employees claiming unpaid severance, as well as from office space landlords and other vendors.
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One US employee filed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that the company failed to pay the full amount of promised severance benefits in November. The plaintiff claimed that Twitter offered six months of base pay plus one week for each year of service but only received three months’ pay.
Ghanaian authorities are investigating the claims, although it remains uncertain whether they can enforce the settlement. The former employees and their attorney maintain that the offer was never finalized, and they are exploring legal options against Twitter in various jurisdictions, including Ghana.
Negative cash flow
Earlier in the week, Musk revealed that Twitter’s cash flow remains in the negative territory due to a significant drop of nearly 50% in advertising revenue and the burden of heavy debt. In March, he claimed that the company would achieve positive cash flow by June.
As the company mulls over the burden of its heavy debt, it’s also making serious moves to retain and attract content creators, especially since Meta (Nasdaq: META) successfully launched its “Twitter-killer,” Threads. Twitter recently announced that select creators will be eligible to receive a share of the ad revenue generated by the company. Some creators reported getting payouts as high as $100,000.
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