Thread by @LisaBloom

Having investigated #TwitterLayoffs with dozens of tweeps now, let's talk about important employee rights under Elon's "merger" agreement (the one he tried to wriggle out of, and couldn't.)

His promises there are important and legally enforceable by laid off folks. Here's why.

Part of what Elon promises when buying Twitter was that workers laid off post-Elon would get no worse compensation and benefits than workers laid off pre-Elon.

Read it for yourself. (Or just believe me, I read boring fine print for a living.)

#TwitterLayoffs

Now I know from several good sources that pre-Elon terminated employees got:

1. two months' severance
2. prorated bonuses
3. early vesting of upcoming equity

OOPS! Elon forgot to give workers #2 and #3.

But workers were not parties to the contract. Do they still have rights?

Yes, dear reader, they do.

Workers were "intended third party beneficiaries" of the merger agreement. The whole idea was to protect them.

So they have every right to collect full compensation and hold Elon in breach of contract.

#TwitterLayoffs

Also, I would argue that since today's workers are being kept as workers on payroll, ordered to continue to follow Twitter's code of conduct and policies, they aren't really being given "severance," which normally starts on or after termination.

#TwitterLayoffs

Finally, I'm hearing today from multiple Black tweeps that layoffs seem to disproportionately target people of color.

This as internal affinity groups like Blackbird (for African American employees) are disbanded.

So civil rights laws are also at play here.

#TwitterLayoffs