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“X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

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Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#121

Post by Gibbon1 »

labster wrote: post #55
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #25

When do they start straight up garnishing X's bank accounts? This behavior is so shitty, indefensible and beyond absurd. I think we need stronger laws that force billionaires to pay when they think the rules just don't apply to them - it's clear they often feel that the sheer expense of the legal system is often a deterrent for poorer folks to get what they are owed. I hope all these folks get their severance, and ho…

Elon: I want X to be the next network people trust to transfer money Also Elon: Let’s not pay any of Twitter’s bills

When a large corporation or wealthy person doesn't pay bills on time it's called managing cashflow.

When a peon does it he's a deadbeat.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#122

Post by Paul-Craft »

lostlogin wrote: post #58
jurassic wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These lawsuits are about enforcing contract terms. In business, if you don't honor agreements you get sued (and lose).

> In business, if you don't honor agreements you get sued (and lose). Unless you want future options with the person you are suing. Unless you need a reference. If you can afford it and if you are prepared to burn bridges.

Or, you don't want a public record of having previously sued a similar entity (e.g. employer, landlord).

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#123

Post by lost_tourist »

jntvjnvutnuvt wrote: post #99
mlyle wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We don't have debtors prisons. No one's suggesting such. We have plenty of disputed behavior and harms that are within the purview of civil courts, and then more egregious versions that are crimes. IMO, withholding significant pay that you have the ability to pay and is unambiguously contractually owed causes pretty serious harm, and society has strong reasons to criminalize this conduct. Accepting services from so…

Severance is typically not "unambiguously contractually owed." The fact that many here would want company executives imprisoned for not offering goodwill boggles my mind.

[flagged]

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#124

Post by nocoiner »

ip26 wrote: post #47
ttul wrote: post #28

I’m not an employment lawyer, but it seems these former employees have a decent shot. They will eventually win their severance in court. But will they ever be paid? By the time they win, will “X” even exist in its current corporate form? Or will it have gone bankrupt, only to have its assets purchased, leaving the employees standing in line with all the other creditors. Indeed, I wonder whether Elon Musk structured t…

Is he known for plotting financial exploits like that? He certainly isn’t playing to make friends, but I’m not sure we’ve seen that kind of thing out of him before.

I know having to say it’s sarcasm ruins the joke, but it’s so hard to tell on the internet sometimes. But… this is sarcasm, right?

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#125

Post by dagw »

hotnfresh wrote: post #102
bemusedthrow75 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have long held that Twitter should have been bought by a consortium of media companies and run as a market utility. It’s been the media internet’s comment section for long enough that the BBC, MSNBC, Sinclair and even OANN ought to have understood the value of sharing it.

Twitter always should have been an Internet protocol. But we don’t make those anymore. Haven’t for a while. If we didn’t already have email, I doubt we could create it (and have it take off) today.

If we didn’t already have email, I doubt we could create it

Hell we've pretty much 'uncreated' email over the past decade. How many people do you know who don't get their email via Google or Microsoft? I used to work for a very large university. Back when I was there, there was a team of Unix greybeards hosting all of the Universities email off of a bunch of Solaris boxes. It worked pretty flawlessly, end when it didn't they knew how to fix it. Today it's all been handed over to Microsoft and when something doesn't work, the help desk can just shrug and say "nothing we can do, it's Microsoft"

Running your own email server in any practical meaning is more or less impossible.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#126

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

jntvjnvutnuvt wrote: post #100
threeseed wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> overall it's a negative for society I would disagree. We shouldn't allow criminal behaviour to be tolerated just because it's white collar. And the whole point of laws is to protect the vulnerable in our society which definitely includes the innocent employees who are being harmed for doing nothing other than working for Twitter/X.

How is it criminal behavior to not offer severance, which 99% of companies don't offer? Not offering severance has nothing to do with criminal behavior. If so, 99% of small businesses owners would be imprisoned in your world.

Why do you keep posting stuff like this, when people are very clearly not arguing this?

Nobody believes that executives should be jailed for not offering severance - that's not what is being discussed. But if part of a termination agreement includes a guarantee of severance (and these termination agreements basically always include responsibilities for the employee to uphold in order to receive that sentence), and then you just decide not to pay it, and it looks like you basically never had the intent to pay it, that looks a lot more like fraud.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#127

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

lost_tourist wrote: post #123
jntvjnvutnuvt wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Severance is typically not "unambiguously contractually owed." The fact that many here would want company executives imprisoned for not offering goodwill boggles my mind.

[flagged]

Please read the HN Guidelines, https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html :

> Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

> Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.

> Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#128

Post by nickthegreek »

threeseed wrote: post #84

Meta question: Does anyone know why negative Twitter/X stories tend to drop off the front page so quickly. It is now ranked 65 despite having a lot of votes in such a short time period. Just wondering if it's because it is heavily flagged or if the mods are intervening like they have in the past ?

Dang has specifically said recently that Musk content is hit with a penalty as it has a habit of taking over and discourse around these articles falls.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#129

Post by ip26 »

nocoiner wrote: post #124
ip26 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is he known for plotting financial exploits like that? He certainly isn’t playing to make friends, but I’m not sure we’ve seen that kind of thing out of him before.

I know having to say it’s sarcasm ruins the joke, but it’s so hard to tell on the internet sometimes. But… this is sarcasm, right?

Not sarcasm, he is a jerk but I am trying to figure whether it would be in character or not. It sounds more like a play from the “vulture capitalist” toolbox. Although I suppose it could fit with a vision of unburdening a company to allow rebuilding.

Re: “X” Didn’t Pay Severance. Now It’s Facing 2,200 Cases – and Big Fees

#130

Post by nocoiner »

ip26 wrote: post #129
nocoiner wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know having to say it’s sarcasm ruins the joke, but it’s so hard to tell on the internet sometimes. But… this is sarcasm, right?

Not sarcasm, he is a jerk but I am trying to figure whether it would be in character or not. It sounds more like a play from the “vulture capitalist” toolbox. Although I suppose it could fit with a vision of unburdening a company to allow rebuilding.

Check out the time he bailed out his brother and Solar City at the expense of Tesla shareholders. Definitely some sharp financial engineering type shenanigans going on in that deeply conflicted transaction.
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