NEW YORK, US – SEPTEMBER 17: Elon Musk arrives at the Turkish House to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the 78th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, United States on September 17, 2023. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Elon Musk’s X broke the law in firing an employee who criticized management’s return-to-work policy, the National Labor Relations Board alleged, in its first formal complaint against the company formally known as Twitter.
In its complaint, the NLRB’s “Region 20” San Francisco branch accused X of violating the National Labor Relations Act when it terminated Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, shortly after Musk assumed control in late October. The NLRB contended that X fired Yue after she attempted to organize other Twitter employees who were dissatisfied with Musk’s abrupt change to the company’s work requirements.
CNBC reported that Musk sent emails to Twitter employees outlining his expectations, even stating that “any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company.”
“If you are physically able to come to the office and you choose not to, your resignation will be accepted,” Musk reportedly said, according to the NLRB. This directive caused several employees to voice “concern and outrage” over the immediate return-to-office order, as stated in the original legal charge filed in March.
Yue then tweeted, “Don’t resign, let him fire you. You gain literally nothing out of resignation.” Additionally, she posted a message in a company Slack channel saying, “Don’t be fired. Seriously.”
According to the legal charge document, many of Yue’s colleagues responded to her messages. Meanwhile, Musk instructed his management team to monitor online posts and Slack conversations “in order to identify who should be fired.”
Five days later, Yue was fired and informed that she violated an unspecified company policy, according to the legal document.
“Ms. Yue alleges that Twitter selected her for layoff in retaliation for her efforts to organize her co-workers not to resign, giving them stronger grounds to challenge any separation from Twitter,” the document stated.
The NLRB claims that X has “interfered with, restrained, and coerced employees in the exercise of their rights guaranteed” by national labor law.
A spokesperson for X has not yet responded to a request for comment.
“After 12 amazing years and 3 weeks of chaos, I’m officially fired by Twitter,” Yue tweeted on Nov. 15. “I never expected to stay this long, and I never expected to feel such relief upon leaving.”
The NLRB is seeking to “Make Yao Yue whole for any direct or foreseeable pecuniary harm, as well as other consequential damages suffered as a result of Respondent’s unlawful conduct,” in addition to providing “all other relief as may be just and proper to remedy the unfair labor practices alleged,” according to a statement.
A hearing on the case is scheduled for Jan. 30 in San Francisco.
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