X (former Twitter) owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk won’t have to pay out an additional $500 million in severance to Twitter staffers he fired upon taking over the company in October 2022, according to the ruling of U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson.
Courtney McMillian, who was responsible for Twitter’s compensation and benefits, and Ronald Cooper, Twitter’s operations manager, previously made a lawsuit against Musk, alleging that they didn’t receive appropriate severance when they were laid off. The lawsuit claimed that they and other fired Twitter staffers were owed three months of pay under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) while receiving only one month of pay.
Thompson ruled to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that ERISA doesn’t apply in this particular case because there was no “ongoing administrative scheme” after Musk’s takeover, while Twitter notified its staffers they would only receive cash payments in case of being laid off. The judge also added that the fired staffers can amend their complaint without claims related to ERISA.
This isn’t the only lawsuit from disgruntled ex-Twitter staffers who believe that they were shortchanged for severance Musk is dealing with. Two more lawsuits are currently underway, with one asking for $128 million in unpaid severance and the other one asking for $1 million.