--- title: "Elon Musk Demands Money Back From Employees He Laid Off" description: "Clawback After firing a number of Twitter staff in Australia, the platform's new owner Elon Musk is threatening to take them to court, demanding to claw back payments after claiming the company had overpaid them. Twitter, which Musk has since renamed to X, fired much of its remaining staff stationed in Australia in January 2023. […]" date: "2024-06-14" modified: "2024-06-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-demands-money-twitter-australia" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "australia" - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" - "X" --- # Elon Musk Demands Money Back From Employees He Laid Off ![Elon Musk is threatening to sue fired Twitter staff in Australia, demanding to claw back payments after accidentally overpaying them.]() *\Image: Elon Musk via X\* ## Clawback After firing a number of X-formerly-Twitter staff in Australia, the platform's new owner Elon Musk is threatening to take them to court, demanding to claw back payments after claiming the company had accidentally overpaid them. The flailing social media service fired much of its remaining staff stationed in Australia back in January 2023. But thanks to an alleged currency "conversion error," the social media company is now asking the fired employees to repay up to $46,500 in US dollars in some cases, the [*Sydney Morning Herald* reports](). In other words, X is kicking its former staff while they're down — a gross example of an employer blaming laid off workers for its own careless accounting mistake. ## AUD Lang Syne According to the report, at least six former X employees received letters in the mail, alleging that they had "received a significant overpayment in error in January 2023." "We would be grateful if you could arrange the repayment to us \[using the account details below\] at your earliest convenience," the letter reads. The payment was made to the former staff in the form of Twitter shares, which were valued at the price when Musk bought the company in 2022. The number of shares varies, depending on how long each employee worked for the company. Per the *Herald*, overpayments range anywhere between $1,000 and $46,500 US. The company also threatened the former staff members with legal action if the money wasn't repaid. ## Atwitter According to the *Herald*, none of the former employees yet have complied with the unusual request. The social media platform has also been [hit by a class-action suit in California](), filed by former employees who claim they were never paid severance. The latest accounting error shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the sheer chaos the company has been in over the last two years. Following his [disastrous acquisition of Twitter](), Musk has slammed the company with [several rounds of mass layoffs](). The mercurial CEO's [abhorrent behavior]() has since [scared away many advertisers](), and the platform has quickly descended into a [cesspool of misinformation](), conspiracy theories, and extreme right-wing pundits. It's still unclear whether X has any recourse in asking for its money back. Employment law specialist Hayden Stephens told the *Herald* that the former employees should ask the company for supporting evidence before handing over any money. Under Australian labor law, Stephens explained that "there is usually an obligation to repay that money" in the case of a genuine mistake. **More on Twitter:** *[Threads Now Has More Daily Users Than X]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()