Leaf&Core

Elon Musk Mocked and Berated an Employee. Now he Regrets It

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 5 minutes.

The Twitter logo, but dead on the ground. This time, it's verified with a blue checkmark“Halli,” Haraldur Thorleifsson, was a Senior Director at Twitter. Before that, he was the CEO and founder of Ueno, a company that did design and branding work for many large companies, including Google, Facebook, Reuters, Uber, Apple, and many more. Twitter would eventually buy Ueno. Thorleifsson also founded Bueno, a non-profit charity organization. Despite his success, he insisted to pay full taxes to his country with a regular salary, to contribute to the nation that uplifted him. He seems like a pretty cool guy.

Earlier this week, he had a simple question for his employers at Twitter: have I been fired?

No one could answer. Twitter locked him out of his computer and accounts, typically the final move of a company when they lay you off or fire you, and yet… nothing. No messaging, no clear answer from human resources. No one could tell Halli if he still worked for Twitter. Even employees of bankrupt companies will get to know what’s happening with their jobs.

Therefore, he did what any possible former employee of Twitter would do: he took to the one place he thought Twitter’s CEO would notice… Twitter. Thorleifsson tweeted at Elon Musk, asking if he still had a job at the company. The thread that would follow may have been a hundred-million dollar mistake for Elon Musk, and his troubles aren’t over yet. Musk seemed to insinuate the employee was fired for his disability, which he brought up unprompted and mocked, he claimed the employee wasn’t doing any work, and, by firing him, he incurred a portion of Thorleifsson’s contract that would give him a $100 million golden parachute should Twitter fire him after acquiring his company.

Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk eventually apologized (if you can call it that) and invited Halli to keep working at Twitter. While Thorleifsson’s work likely should be enough of a reason for that, it almost seems like Elon Musk got an angry DM from his lawyers that quickly changed his tune.

The Doomed Thread

It all started off so simple. Thorleifsson asked Elon Musk on Twitter if he still worked at the company, as it appeared he may have been part of a layoff. He had been trying to reach out to HR, and they weren’t responding. Musk only asked what work he had been doing, which Thorleifsson pointed out would break confidentiality agreements to answer. Musk said that was fine. Thorleifsson mentioned saving $500,000 at the company with a SaaS contract, later revealed as being Figma, and leading the prioritization of design products, especially important, he pointed out, to a now much smaller team completing large projects. It’s not a small task. Elon responded with two laughing emoji, “🤣🤣.” I’m not sure what he was laughing about, the list is much longer than Elon’s accomplishments at Twitter, like “decimated our revenue stream and brought antisemitism back to Twitter in a big way.”

Maybe he just thought “Figma” was a “ligma” joke.

He clearly didn’t realize that he was talking to one of the most influential people at the company, the CEO of a design firm Twitter purchased, in part for his talent. Thorleifsson finally got an email from HR during his discussion with Musk. Twitter had terminated his employment. Musk would make things worse before he realized his mistake.

Musk Digs a Deeper Hole

Ah, yes, insinuating that a disabled employee is lazy and faking the severity of their disability. Always goes over well with lawyers.

You know, I’m just a simple country lawyer… wait, no, I’m a city software engineer with a blogging hobby. But I do know not to insinuate an employee was faking their disability to be lazy. Mostly because it’s a horrible thing to say. However, also because that could get someone in hot water, legally speaking. But, hey, I don’t have emerald money (a rumor Musk has seemingly both confirmed and denied). When you have “emerald money,” “Paypal money,” “Tesla money,” and “Space X money,” what’s the respect and dignity of one of Iceland’s best people? What’s a couple hundred million dollars when you didn’t even need the cash to buy Twitter in the first place? Perhaps my logic is flawed, perhaps trolling and getting your fanboys to cheer you on is worth $100,000,000?

Musk revealed Thorleifsson’s disability, unprompted, though Thorleifsson hasn’t been secretive about it. In fact, some of the charity work he was involved with entailed adding or repairing 1,500 wheelchair ramps across Iceland. Thorleifsson responded to Musk bringing up his disability by talking about it, which is probably kinder than Musk deserved.

Musk had gone on to describe Thorleifsson “the worst” in a since-deleted tweet. Other Twitter users called out Musks behavior, and, if you believe Elon Musk, that is what lead to him calling Thorleifsson to discuss his employment, seemingly to offer him his job back.

Musk’s Apology (Realizing a $100,000,000+ Mistake)

Twitter supposedly keeps a “do not fire” list. This is a list of employees who would be too expensive to fire. Many employees at Twitter who came in through acquisitions, especially those who owned the acquired company, have a clause in their contract giving them a large payout if the company terminates their employment. Reportedly, Thorleifsson’s was $100,000,000. Sure, Elon Musk could likely afford to drop $100 million, but will he want to? Well, he should have thought about that before firing Thorleifsson. Musk once again acted before thinking and fired Thorleifsson during their Twitter conversation. That little temper tantrum of his may have been an expensive one.

Perhaps that’s why he has already apologized. Well, he said the word “apologize,” but, unlike a normal apology that should state your part in a mistake, he instead made liberal use of the passive voice to blame… other people.

“I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.” – Elon Musk

Sincere apologies admit what was done, why it was wrong, and take blame for the action. Apologies that push blame off onto others never come off as sincere. Musk then stated that Thorleifsson is considering remaining at Twitter, with the offer seemingly open to him to return after his brief unemployment.

Nothing New for Twitter… or the U.S.

I really want to highlight this piece in Newsweek by Peter Pischke. Musk’s statements are nothing new, in fact, what is perhaps most harmful of all about them is just how common they are. Accusations of laziness or claiming disabled people aren’t effective in the workplace are harmful prejudices. Only 20% of people who are disabled are able to find employment. The unemployment rate among the disabled, the rate of people who are actively seeking work but unable to find it, is double that of able-bodied people. In a study, disabled candidates were 26% less likely than able-bodied candidates to get a promotion or job, all other things being equal. The prejudice runs deep, and Musk’s comments show they even go to the top of formerly illustrious companies like Twitter.

This isn’t even new for Twitter, at least not Musk’s Twitter. Female and disabled former employees are suing the company for discrimination. They point to Musk’s long history of sexism online. Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney representing the women’s discrimination suit, said in a statement to Ars Technica, “Women at Twitter never had a decent shot at being treated fairly once Elon Musk decided to buy the company.” Twitter may have also violated the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as the Family and Medical Leave Act when Musk forced all employees to come into the office or lose their jobs. This included people who had, in their contracts, that they’d never have to come into the office, and people who had illnesses, like cancer, that made them at a heightened risk for COVID-19 complications.

Musk waffled on whether or not he would actually fire three quarters of Twitter’s staff. However, that’s exactly what he’s done, so far. Many of those people have complaints against Twitter that could prove financially disastrous for the company already struggling to secure revenue streams. Somehow, it’s hard to see this going right for Musk, but is there a problem massive amounts of wealth can’t solve? Is there truly a failure too big that can outweigh unfathomable wealth? Perhaps Musk is trying to find out.

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