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X, previously known as Twitter, has made payments to employees laid off from its African headquarters in Accra, Ghana, more than a year after their dismissal. The social media platform terminated the contracts of these employees, most of whom had been in their roles for only a few months, in November 2022.
The workers had threatened legal action against X for failing to fulfill promised redundancy payments. While X has not commented on the matter, it had previously stated that it had paid ex-employees in full.
Under the leadership of Elon Musk, who took over the company in 2022, X underwent a significant global downsizing, resulting in the dismissal of over 6,000 employees due to financial losses exceeding $4 million per day.
The African employees, numbering fewer than 20, had recently relocated to X’s new office in Accra after approximately eight months of remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Agency Seven Seven, which represented the employees, confirmed the successful negotiation of a redundancy settlement and repatriation expenses for foreign staff, without disclosing the exact payout.
Last year, some of the sacked employees had spoken out about the detrimental impact of their treatment by X on their mental health and finances. They alleged that despite being promised one more month’s salary, they were immediately locked out of their emails and received no further payments.
Following the intervention of Agency Seven Seven and media coverage, negotiations between X and the sacked Africa staff commenced. It was reported that X had 1,500 employees, significantly reduced from the nearly 8,000 employed at the time of Musk’s acquisition of the company.
Despite Musk’s public announcement that laid-off employees were given three months’ severance pay, the Africa office staff claim they did not receive this. This discrepancy led to a lawsuit filed against X in a California court by ex-employees seeking $500 million in promised severance packages.
