Gary Rooney, former Director of “Source to Pay” in the Irish-based operations for X (formerly Twitter), received €550,131 compensation from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for unfair dismissal. In November 2022 Elon Musk, the new company owner, sent an email to employees requiring them to tick a box to agree to new pay and conditions within one day, despite not providing much information or specifications. The new expectations upon the staff were said in the email to be required to “build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
Mr Musk’s email noted that failure to click the yes link would be interpreted as resignation and would result in 3 months’ severance being granted. Another email followed at 2:19am the morning of the next day, emphasising that not ticking the box would be considered resignation by the company. The day after the first email was sent, Mr Rooney attended a meeting online to get more information about the forthcoming changes, but it did not provide much details. As Mr Rooney did not tick the box within 24 hours, the company stated that he had resigned. His access to their work platforms ceased without any communication the next day, and it was not until the following day that he received an automated email noting his “decision to resign”.
After the company allegedly refused to discuss in-depth with Mr Rooney or his solicitor, he brought the case forward to the WRC. Mr Rooney’s solicitor pointed to the fact that the email required acceptance of potential new work terms and conditions without knowledge of what the changes entailed, and how there was no information on stock options, which were a significant part of Mr Rooney’s previous work package. Other notable changes set out in the email and its documents were changes to work hours requiring work outside normal hours and on the weekends, and seeking the return of all staff to work in person, despite Mr Rooney being fully remote.
Although Mr Rooney requested the WRC to exercise its powers and compel Mr Musk to be a witness, they did not exert this power, and he did not give evidence. Counsel for Twitter argued that Mr Rooney made a conscious choice not to click yes in Mr Musk’s clear and uncomplicated email, such that Mr Rooney knew it constituted resignation. Twitter denied that he had been dismissed.
Having worked for the company for 9 years, Mr Rooney argued he should have been given more time to make such a decision regarding his employment.
In the WRC’s decision, it was held that the only reason that the role ended was due to a failure to click yes in an email, and this failure cannot be considered an act of resignation. Mr Rooney was in a position to work, but Twitter stopped him from accessing his work. As the act did not constitute resignation, the WRC stated that the termination of his employment was not justified on any substantial grounds and thus was unfair. Furthermore, his failure to click the button did not give rise to the dismissal in terms of contractual breach or insubordination.
Rather, the judge stated that the email appeared to be an effort towards getting an agreement to change employment terms and conditions or obtain volunteers for redundancy. 270 staff in the Irish branch received the email, and 235 clicked yes, but their pay and work duties have not been altered.
The WRC made a record award in favour of Mr Rooney for unfair dismissal – Twitter was ordered to pay €550,131, which was based upon €200,000 prospective future loss of income.
Click here to read an article on the decision.