A software engineer terminated last week by Twitter Inc. amid job cuts ordered by new owner Elon Musk complained to the US labor board that he was illegally targeted because of his efforts to help fellow employees preserve messages from their work email accounts.
(Bloomberg) — A software engineer terminated last week by Twitter Inc. amid job cuts ordered by new owner Elon Musk complained to the US labor board that he was illegally targeted because of his efforts to help fellow employees preserve messages from their work email accounts.
In a Monday filing with the National Labor Relations Board, Emmanuel Cornet said he was terminated Nov. 1, the same day he used a company Slack channel to share a Google Chrome extension he’d published. It was designed to help employees preserve messages regarding performance reviews or stock accumulation, which could be useful to challenge layoffs or make compensation demands. Twitter removed the Slack channel link, he said.
“Mr. Cornet alleges that Twitter selected him to be one of the first employees let go in its mass layoff, in retaliation for having assisting his fellow employees to help protect themselves in the event that they were laid off,” according to the NLRB filing.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read More: Lawyer Suing Twitter Over Layoffs Says Musk Trying to Comply
Claims filed with the NLRB are investigated by regional officials, who if they find merit in the allegations and can’t secure a settlement, then issue a complaint on behalf of the labor board’s general counsel, which is considered by an agency judge. Those judges’ rulings can be appealed to the NLRB members in Washington, and then to federal court. The agency has the authority to order companies to reinstate fired workers and provide back pay, but generally can’t hold executives personally liable for alleged wrongdoing or issue any punitive damages.
Cornet is also the lead plaintiff in a class action filed Thursday by the same attorney, Shannon Liss-Riordan, accusing Twitter of violating federal and state laws requiring months of advance notice before mass layoffs at large companies.
Musk has said that all employees being terminated were offered three months of severance. Liss-Riordan said Monday that Cornet has not been guaranteed such compensation, and that it’s unclear which workers were.
(Updates with information from complaint)
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