Employer Lesson #1: Don’t Be a Troll
Elon Musk is the gift that keeps giving—if you are an employment lawyer, that is. In-house employment lawyers might be the only employees with job security at Twitter.
So, if you haven't seen today’s news, let me fill you in.
A Twitter employee (I believe they call themselves "Tweeps") posted this to his Twitter account, tagging Elon Musk:
9 days ago the access to my work computer was cut, along with about 200 other Twitter employees. However your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answered my emails. Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?
So, of course, Mr. Musk apologized for the lack of communication and immediately emailed the employee privately to explain that he had been laid off and promised to have HR contact him to explain his severance package.
Just kidding! Elon, never one to resist being snarky, demanded the employee list everything the employee was working on, his point being—as he tweeted later—"you can't lay off someone who isn't working." After the employee responded with a list of accomplishments, Elon just ended the conversation with two emojis: 🤣🤣
Then he took to Twitter to further mock the employee, stating:
"The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm,"
(Does this sound like a good opening for a reasonable accommodation discussion?)
By the way, this employee has muscular dystrophy, is in a wheelchair, and is losing the use of his arms.
So, friends, what did Mr. Musk do wrong:
(a) He attempted to humiliate a disabled employee on Twitter by grilling him about his productivity.
(b) He disclosed to the Twittersphere that the employee had a disability.
(c) He accused the employee of using his disability as an excuse for poor performance.
(d) He provided Exhibit A for the inevitable disability discrimination and harassment lawsuit*
(e) All of the above.
The answer is (e), of course. Still, the more important lesson is that treating employees with such blatant disrespect is counterproductive if your goal is to retain good employees, attract new talent, and avoid the courtroom.
As a side note, I just learned that my Alma Mater, UCLA Law School, is teaching an entire class on Elon Musk lawsuits. So, I guess he's doing his part in educating a new generation of attorneys.
By the way, Elon later Tweeted this gem:
"I just did a videocall with Halli to figure out what's real vs what I was told. It's a long story. Better to talk to people than communicate via tweet."
I couldn't agree more, Elon.
*The employee, Haraldur Thorleifsson, lives in Iceland where disability discrimination is similarly prohibited. He was awarded Iceland’s Person of the Year in 2022, so he’s no slacker.