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Twitter’s Dublin-based global VP for public policy, Sinéad McSweeney, claimed Elon Musk has been rehiring and firing people ‘with no apparent logic’.
A senior Irish executive at Twitter impacted as part of large-scale job cuts this month has secured a temporary court injunction to prevent the company from terminating her employment.
Sinéad McSweeney, who is Twitter’s global vice-president for public policy, secured the order from Ireland’s High Court on Friday (25 November) after she claimed she is being treated as though she is no longer employed by Twitter, according to court reports.
McSweeney said she didn’t respond to an email sent out by new boss Elon Musk to Twitter employees on 16 November asking if they wanted to continue working for the company. The company then allegedly informed her that she had accepted an exit package, but McSweeney is claiming that she did not resign.
While the court found that the email has no effect on McSweeney’s contract, according to the reports, the injunction does not reinstate her in her role as a final decision needs to be taken on her case.
McSweeney, who was named managing director for Twitter Ireland in 2016, said she has been locked out of the Dublin office and internal IT systems – including her official email account – preventing her from carrying out work.
Musk, she claimed, has been running the company “in an unorthodox manner” since his takeover late last month and has been rehiring and firing “with no apparent logic” in a manner that is unlawful.
According to Courts News Ireland, McSweeney said she had a conversation with Musk over the phone on 13 November.
Musk reportedly told her that, despite job cuts made in her area of responsibility, any “excellent” staff who had been let go should be reinstated. He added that the criteria for re-instatement was “that the individual was excellent, performing a critical role” and “not negative”.
“He accepted that people could be talented but might impact the team negatively and he stated that he did not want assholes,” she told the court.
Many changes have been made to the Twitter platform since Musk took over, with the billionaire announcing plans last week to offer “amnesty” to suspended accounts.
But there are reports that the platform could break following mass layoffs and the cutting of critical teams.
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