When Michelle Armstrong joined Twitter in April 2022, she thought she had found her dream job.
After a decade in the tech industry, with its reputation for “tech bro” sexism, working as a senior audiovisual engineer for the social media giant felt different.
“I’ve had so much discrimination from different jobs,” Armstrong said. “Twitter was the place I felt welcome, where they valued my expertise.”
Then, on Nov. 4, Armstrong got notice: She was being laid off in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. Two months later, she received its now-infamous severance offer: a month’s pay, contingent on signing a lifetime agreement not to sue Twitter, not to testify in cases against the company and to assist it with litigation, and not to disparage the bird app or Musk.
At 53 years old, Armstrong fears finding another job won’t be easy: “I’m dipping into my retirement funds now and it’s scary,” she said.
Beyond that, Armstrong says her final payment miscalculated deductions and compensation for expenses. The complicated legal document also included language threatening consequences for violating its provisions before the separation date—even though Armstrong had not received the agreement during that period.
“Right away, I knew this wasn’t something I was going to sign,” Armstrong said.
Instead, she lawyered up and plans to take Twitter to arbitration. She’s not the only one.
Armstrong’s attorney, labor lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, has four class action suits and roughly...
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