According a story on CNN, Twitter Africa former employees who were laid off as part of a global cost-cutting measure after Elon Musk’s acquisition have not received severance pay 7 months since leaving the company.
Earlier in May, the former employees, based in Ghana, accepted Twitter’s offer to pay them three months worth of severance, the cost of repatriating foreign staff and legal expenses incurred during negotiations with the company, but they have not received the money or any further communication, the sources said.
“They literally ghosted us,” one former Twitter Africa employee told CNN.
“Although Twitter has eventually settled former staff in other locations, Africa staff have still been left in the lurch despite us eventually agreeing to specific negotiated terms.”
The former employees say they reluctantly agreed to the severance package without benefits, even though it was less than what colleagues elsewhere received.
“Twitter was non-responsive until we agreed to the three months because we were all so stressed and exhausted and tired of the uncertainty, reluctant to take on the extra burdens of a court case so we felt we had no choice but to settle,” another former employee said.
According to Carla Olympio, an attorney who is representing the former employees, the last communication from Twitter or its lawyers was in May, shortly after settlement was agreed.
Ghana’s Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations speaking through a spokesperson said, that they are investigating the claims.
Whether Ghanaian authorities can compel Twitter to comply with the settlement is uncertain. The former employees and their attorney say the offer was never finalised.
The dozen or so team members were laid off just four days after the social network opened a physical office in Accra last November.
Some of them said they had moved to Ghana from other African nations, and depended on their jobs at Twitter to support their legal status in the country.
