Twitter employee says he was fired 'while sleeping' as Elon Musk halves company workforce
'There is always a new low,' ex-Twitter software engineer Jaseem Abid tweets after learning he'd been laid off
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A now former Twitter employee complained on social media that he got fired "while sleeping" after Elon Musk ordered company-wide layoffs on Friday to get Twitter back in the black.
Jaseem Abid, a software engineer, tweeted that he woke up Friday morning and discovered he'd been laid off when he couldn't access Slack and his work email, and found his laptop had been "remotely wiped."
"Woke up to no slack/gmail/office access and laptop remotely wiped out. Got fired without even a confirmation email while sleeping? There is always a new low," he wrote.
Musk, who became Twitter's "Chief Twit" last month after completing a $44 billion deal, said the layoffs were necessary because the California-based company was losing more than $4 million per day. A letter to employees indicated that roughly half of the company's 7,500-person workforce would be losing their jobs.
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In this photo illustration, Elon Musk's Twitter profile is displayed on a mobile phone and the image of him is seen on a computer screen on back of it in Ankara, Turkey, on Oct. 6, 2022. (Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)
"Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day," Musk tweeted Friday. "Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required."
Musk also fired Twitter's top executives upon taking control, including those involved in the decision to ban former President Donald Trump from the platform. Twitter employees began posting online about the forthcoming layoffs Thursday evening, saying they had been locked out of their computers and had received notifications about the pending workforce reduction.
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Exterior view of the Twitter office on April 26, 2022, in New York City. (Kena Betancur/VIEW press / Getty Images)
One ex-Twitter employee who is eight months pregnant said she lost access to her work laptop Thursday night ahead of the layoff announcement.
"Last Thursday in the SF office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter. 8 months pregnant and have a 9 month old. Just got cut off from laptop access #LoveWhereYouWorked," wrote Rachel Bonn, who worked on product marketing and digital brand at Twitter.
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A class-action lawsuit was filed against the company by workers who claimed the layoffs violate federal law requiring 60 days' notice for employees, Bloomberg reported.
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires large companies to notify workers two months in advance of planned job cuts.
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In addition to layoffs, Musk has also reportedly removed Twitter's "days of rest" perk from employee calendars and plans to cancel its remote work policy – with some exceptions – and have staff return to the office full time, according to Bloomberg.
FOX Business' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.