A former Twitter employee who was fired for not responding to Elon Musk’s email calling for a “very hardcore” work culture has reportedly received 550,000 euros (about $600,000) in compensation.
The Guardian reported that Gary Rooney, who worked at Twitter’s European headquarters in Dublin, told Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission that he did not click “yes” in response to the infamous email.
Musk sent the email less than a month after completing his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in November 2022. The email asked employees to agree to work at a “very hardcore” pace to build “the new Twitter” or quit.
“This means working long hours and high intensity hours. Only exceptional performance will pass,” wrote the billionaire, who changed the name of his company to X the following year.
The email also said employees had to click “yes” to become “part of the new Twitter,” and that anyone who didn’t do so by the next day would be paid three months’ severance pay.
Three days later, the company emailed Rooney, acknowledging “his decision to resign and accept his offer of voluntary redundancy,” according to the Guardian.
Rooney later responded that he had “never informed Twitter of his intention to resign”, but the company responded that his failure to click “yes” was “considered to be a notice of resignation”, the Irish Examiner reported.
According to the Guardian, Rooney said in evidence that he had been wary of opening the email because he thought it might contain malware.
In its written ruling, a Workplace Relations Commission examiner said the 24-hour deadline to respond to Musk’s ultimatum was not “reasonable notice”, the media added.
A spokesperson for Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment told Business Insider that the ruling in the case was issued on Monday, but will only be made public on August 26 “to give the parties an opportunity to fully consider it.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Rooney had worked at Twitter since September 2013 and was director of source-to-pay at the time of his departure.
Neither he nor X immediately responded to BI’s request for comment.