Elon Musk 's X (formerly Twitter) is demanding money from at least six laid-off Australians, claiming it overpaid them.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “X is threatening to take some former employees to court, demanding the return of money paid to them due to an incorrect conversion from US dollars to Australian dollars in their payments.”.
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X’s Asia Pacific email to laid-off employees stated that “there was a significant overpayment in error in January 2023.” The overpayments in question ranged from $1,500 to $70,000 per employee.
So far, none of the former employees have returned the money, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Currently, the Australian dollar is worth $0.67 in U.S. currency.
The company said the overpayment was related to “deferred cash compensation,” in the form of shares issued to employees when they joined Twitter. Those shares were valued at $54.20 per share, the price at which Musk bought Twitter in 2022, and the total number of shares an employee acquired was based on their length of service at the company.
X allegedly made currency conversion errors “when employees were paid their rights after they were laid off. According to one account, X paid the share rights at a conversion rate of 2.5 times the value of the shares.”.
X asked the dismissed employees for repayment “as soon as possible” and said it reserved the right to seek the return of the money plus interest in court, the report noted.
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Employment law expert Hayden Stephens said former employees of Company X could be ordered to pay back the money. However, they would first need to ask the company to clearly explain how the mistake occurred and provide the necessary supporting documentation. He noted that if there was a genuine mistake, “there is generally an obligation to return that money” under Australian employment law.
The excessive compensation of laid-off workers contrasts with what has happened to many former employees in the U.S. X has faced numerous lawsuits and arbitration claims from about 2,000 former employees fighting to receive their compensation. Out-of-court settlement negotiations in many cases have failed, according to court documents.
Additionally, X is facing a lawsuit from four former Twitter executives who claim they were defrauded of more than $128 million in severance pay when Musk fired them shortly after the company was acquired. The lawsuit was filed by former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde and former General Counsel Sean Edgett, who have proposed a trial date of November 2025.
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Musk also refused to pay various Twitter suppliers after taking over, which led to a slew of lawsuits demanding damages.
Source: arstechnica
