In a weird occurrence of events, Twitter has sent laid off employees a legal notice warning them about a non-disparagement clause in their separation agreements. Allegedly, the company says this “applies to you whether you signed the agreement or not.”
Here is a copy of the clause within the separation agreement:
This news comes after some shocking events at Twitter that has left many labor attorneys and workers alike in shock. Once acquired, the company laid off thousands of workers without notice, and the bad press that followed has not yet ceased. Among other things it has been alleged that Twitter has not paid out any charity payments from eployees made in 2022.
Twitter also faces numerous lawsuits related to the way it conducted layoffs without warning. There is also a class action lawsuit claiming that Twitter illegally laid off its contract workers.
Another lawsuit claims that Twitter unevenly targeted female workers in its layoffs as well as workers with disabilities. Twitter has denied all wrongdoings for the matter.
Non-Disparagement Clauses Are One Sides and Anti-Labor
This brings to light a greater issue in American work; that when a worker departs from an employer, they are forced or encouraged to sign a severance agreement that takes away the majority of their legal rights while imposes restrictions on what they can say in the future and where they can work.
The FTC has worked to try and ban non-compete agreements, which are commonly found in severance agreements, but they have been unable to get past corporate lobbying.
Irony From Musk
Musk purchased twitter supposedly to protect free speech, but this latest moves by Twitter to silence former employees shows that ‘free speech’ may be more one sided than previously thought.