African Twitter employees accuse Elon Musk of discrimination after being fired

Works who were laid off at Twitter’s Africa headquarters have accused Twitter of “deliberately and recklessly flouting the laws of Ghana” after they were fired, allegedly without proper severance pay.

The workers have hired legal representation and written to Twitter demanding it comply with the West African nation’s labor laws, provide them with additional severance pay and any other benefits they are entitled to, in line with what other Twitter employees will receive.

According to a letter, obtained by CNN, and sent to the Ghana’s Chief Labour Officer, the African employees demanded that Twitter “adhere to the laws of Ghana on redundancy and offer the employees a fair and just negotiation and redundancy pay.”

“It is clear that Twitter, Inc. under Mr Elon Musk is either deliberately or recklessly flouting the laws of Ghana, is operating in bad faith and in a manner that seeks to silence and intimidate former employees into accepting any terms unilaterally thrown at them,” the letter reads, according to CNN.

Twitter laid off a large portion of their African employees a matter of days after Twitter opened a physical office in the capital Accra following Musk’s takeover. Those who lost their job say they were not offered severance pay, which they say is required by Ghana’s labor laws.

In the letter to Twitter Ghana Ltd, which was obtained by CNN, the African employees turned down a “Ghana Mutual Separation Agreement” from Twitter, which they say was sent to their personal emails offering a final settlement that Twitter said they came to after negotiation.

“Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required,” Musk said on Twitter, adding that they informed the Ghana-based employees in early November that they would be paid until their last day of employment — December 4. And they will continue to receive full pay and benefits during the 30-day notice period.