Musk’s Ex-Twitter Workers Win Severance Over ‘Fork in the Road’ Email

Former Twitter employees are scoring early victories in legal challenges to Elon Musk’s mass layoffs when he bought the company in 2022.

Four ex-Twitter workers have prevailed in a recent series of closed-door arbitration proceedings over claims they were illegally denied severance, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News. More than two years ago, Musk asked Twitter employees in an email with the subject line “A Fork in the Road” to either commit to an “extremely hardcore” work environment or leave the company.

Musk’s cost-cutting strategies have been thrust into the national spotlight with a similar hardline approach to thin out the federal workforce — which included recently sending more than two million federal workers an email with the same “Fork in the Road” subject line. The email gave employees the option to resign but be paid through the end of September, while warning them of upcoming downsizing.

The email was sent as Musk began his new role spearheading a federal cost-cutting effort as a key adviser to the Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump.

At Twitter, now known as X, the four workers argued successfully that although they didn’t respond to the email, they did not resign and were instead terminated, meaning they were entitled to severance promised by the company before Musk bought it.The victories for the four employees haven’t previously been reported.

The similar emails sent to federal workers are now the subject of several lawsuits. Musk and representatives of X didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After Musk bought the social media company for $44 billion and promptly dismissed more than half the staff, former employees responded by filing complaints. The early losses for Musk in arbitration could build pressure for a settlement of similar allegations by individual workers who claim they’re owed anywhere from nearly $100,000 to more than $1 million.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing former employees in arbitrations, wrote in the memo that the 20 cases she’s won so far have cost the company at least twice the amount of contested severance pay because the awards have also included interest, arbitration expenses and legal fees.

The memo was obtained from a former Twitter employee who asked not to be identified disclosing confidential information. In response to a request for comment, Liss-Riordan said she can’t discuss specifics about severance awards because the company has insisted they remain confidential. She’s representing more than 2,000 former employees in legal fights against Musk.

Ireland Case

Most Twitter severance fights in the US have been conducted before private judges behind closed doors because employees waived their right to sue in open court. Last year in Ireland, a Dublin-based senior procurement employee was awarded over €550,000 ($577,746) by the Workplace Relations Commission in a case that went public and marked the largest sum the agency had ever awarded.

Musk has used a similar playbook in his stint with the Trump administration. After the “Fork in the Road” email, Musk followed up this past weekend with an ultimatum to government staff to justify their positions in writing or risk being fired. The president said Tuesday that workers who did not respond to Musk’s demands are at risk of losing their jobs.

“All of President Trump’s executive actions are lawful, constitutional, and intended to deliver on the promises he made to the American people,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “Partisan elected officials and judicial activists who seek to legally obstruct President Trump’s agenda are defying the will of 77 million Americans who overwhelmingly re-elected President Trump, and their efforts will fail.”

Trump himself has defended Musk’s efforts, casting them as a legitimate bid to root out fraud and waste in the US government. They have drawn protests from employee unions, Democrats in Congress and even constituents in Republican-leaning districts.