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Sacked Twitter staff in Ghana finally get pay-off

More than a year after firing employees in its African headquarters, X, then known as Twitter, has now paid them back, according to the agency that represents the fired employees.

The majority had just been employed by the Accra, Ghanaian capital, company for a few months before they were let go by the social media giant in November 2022.

They had vowed to sue X in court if he didn’t give them the promised redundancy money.

The business has not provided a statement.
In the past, X has claimed to have compensated its former workers in full.
After taking over the business in 2022, Elon Musk fired over 6,000 workers as part of a huge global staff purge. He claimed to be losing over $4 million (£3.5 million) per day.

Sacked Twitter staff in Ghana finally get pay-off

The African contingent, who number fewer than 20, had only just moved into X’s new office in Accra, following about eight months of working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Agency Seven Seven, the company providing legal representation to the staff, said it had been successful in its quest to get a redundancy settlement and repatriation expenses for foreign staff, although it did not specify the amount of the pay-out.

“They are very pleased to finally be able to get their due, put this behind them and look to the future,” Carla Olympio from Agency Seven Seven told the BBC.

Last year, sacked staffers told the BBC their treatment by X had harmed their mental health and their finances.

“It’s difficult when it’s the world’s richest man owing you money and closure,” one said.

They said they were initially told that, although their contracts were being terminated, they would be paid to work for one more month. But they were immediately locked out of their emails and no further salary payments were made.

Since then, the staff said they had been involved in a frustrating battle for compensation.

Some of them had moved from neighbouring countries, such as Nigeria. Their contract termination meant they were left stranded in Ghana, along with their families.

In a rare interview last April, Mr Musk told the BBC that the social media giant had 1,500 employees, down from the just under 8,000 who were employed at the time he bought the company.

When the news of Mr Musk’s radical staff cull became public, he tweeted that laid-off employees were given three months’ severance pay.

But the staff based in the Africa office say they did not receive this.

According to Agency Seven Seven, X only began negotiations with the sacked Africa staff after the BBC covered the story.

Last year, X was hit by a lawsuit, filed by ex-employees in a California court, for allegedly refusing to pay at least $500m in promised severance packages.

Akosua Boatemaa

I'm Yours Truly, Blogger Akosua Boatemaa. I'm here to feed Your eyes and Ears with Authentic News Updates.

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