How is Elon Musk able to subvert U.K. employment law?

[RocOn]

It’s my understanding that to dismiss someone who has more than two years’ experience, there either has to be gross misconduct, or a redundancy consultation and process. How is he able to fire such employees on the spot today?

Because he's a massive spoiled bully who thinks he can get away with anything.

Sadly, he's probably right. Or, at least, what's the worst if not? Twitter pays the fines.

He’ll pay them off if he has to but not proactively. Anyone with under 2 years service or contractors will just be cut loose.

I'm guessing he saw how P&O Ferries did their mass firings and how they got away with it. At least, I haven't read anything where the bosses were dealt with.

California is an at-will state iirc and I think they are using a federal law to try to fight it but probably they won’t have standing. We’ll see

Yes! it’s not as if this hasn’t happened before is it?

He’ll have to pay redundancy, and/or fines if process isn’t followed lawfully.

California is an at-will state so think he can get away with that, UK wise he's possibly just accepting he might get fined. Even if he gets fined 10-20million he's rich enough and clever enough he won't even notice

They will probably offer a payout in excess of the redundancy pay due to anyone affected thus nullifying any point in taking them to a tribunal for lack of process. Happens all the time .

They'll pay their way out of the situation

Why have they been fired?

Has he fired UK staff? If so he has broken UK law. I went through 2 years of redundancy process (France and Germany much longer) when a big US corporate bought my employer. You have to follow a consultation if you are making more than 20 employees redundant.

Legal action has been started against him already in the US, I am sure people here won't take it lying down.
He's a raging fantasist and narcissist, he just thinks he can do what he likes. But it won't work, not as he would like it to. It'll get messy.

That said, Twitter policies and Twitter UK leadership have repeatedly broken the Equality Act 2010 and have been told so in parliament so I'm not going to sit around crying about them losing their jobs.

You can easily get rid of people by paying them off. You offer them a sum, and they sign a compromise agreement.

Has he actually 'fired them on the spot'? Or, at this point, just locked everyone out of the computer systems? It's not entirely clear to me from what I've read.

To get around some California rule they are paying for over 60 days of notice in advance. Will probably do the same over here.

He's probably offering settlement agreements to staff. If not, his businesses are wealthy enough to fund a defence to any Employment Tribunal claims. Unless someone is dismissed because of a protected characteristic compensation in the employment tribunal is relatively low (it's based on actual losses and capped) so a walk in the park for the amount of money he has.

I hadn't seen any UK staff included in the mass firing this morning.

Firstly, things are different in the US, secondly you don't automatically get flung in prison for doing something against employment law, someone has to file a claim and it's only just happened. The hand of god doesn't strike you down when you do something wrong, it has to be filed and claimed etc. etc. and all the staff are very busy right now posting pictures of themselves crying on Twitter.

A huge amount of US tech firms staff their UK offices with a skeleton staff of full time employees and an army of contractors. It's easy to let contractors go.

I know things are different in the US. And Canada. And Germany. And Iceland.

I’m talking about British employees.

Someone would have to make a claim. Nothing happens automatically.

Has he actually fired them or just locked them out of everything? I imagine he will put them all on gardening leave and carry on paying them till such time as he is able to justify ending their contracts.

Frankly that cess pit needed a massive shake up and I don't much mind who does it. The whole thing is fascinating.

I'm not convinced that firing half the staff is the way to fix twitter. And if you are unhappy with the kind of stuff people are allowed to post on twitter, it is likely to get a whole lot worse. Musk describes himself as a free speech absolutist and believes people should be able to post anything. He himself posted a conspiracy theory about the attack on Pelosi's husband.

One ex-employee said he's paying them until February.

I guess money talks/wins every time, enables someone to ride roughshod over anyone in their path.