Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, others sue Musk over unpaid severance
Elon Musk is facing a lawsuit filed by four former Twitter executives, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, for not paying over $128 million in severance payments after they were fired. The suit, filed in a Northern California federal court on Monday, alleges that Musk showed "special ire" toward these executives after acquiring the social media platform Twitter (now called X) in 2022.
Allegations of labor and workplace violations
Since Musk took over, X has been hit with multiple lawsuits accusing the company of labor and workplace violations. These include not paying severance to thousands of laid-off workers and neglecting to pay millions owed to vendors and landlords. The 38-page complaint filed by Agrawal and his fellow former Twitter executives stated, "Musk doesn't pay his bills, believes the rules don't apply to him, and uses his wealth and power to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him."
Musk's dismissal of top Twitter executives
After acquiring Twitter, Musk fired several high-ranking executives, including Agrawal, Vijaya Gadde (the company's top legal and policy official), Ned Segal (the CFO), and Sean Edgett (Twitter's general counsel). The dismissals were not surprising since these executives played a crucial role in Twitter's 2022 lawsuit that aimed to force Musk to complete his purchase of the company after he tried to back out over actual bot accounts on the platform.
Ongoing legal battles involving X
In October 2023, Agrawal and other former executives won a ruling requiring X to pay $1.1 million in legal expenses they incurred while working for the company. In December, court-ordered mediation failed to resolve claims by thousands of former Twitter employees allegedly cheated of severance pay. Additionally, the same month, a San Francisco judge rejected X's request to dismiss a lawsuit by employees claiming they were denied 2022 bonuses despite being promised 50% of their target amounts following Musk's takeover.
