Twitter still hasn’t released severance offer to laid-off employees

Twitter: An employee whose job has been terminated or laid off may get monetary compensation or a severance offer from their employer.

It frequently serves as an avenue for the business to support the worker financially during the adjustment time following the layoff.

Salaries, benefits, and other payments may also be included in severance packages.

Employees said they hadn’t yet gotten a formal severance package or separation agreement despite Elon Musk releasing them two months earlier.

On Wednesday, the final official day of employment for those affected by the original layoffs, a former employee said they expected to hear something.

The news

Early Thursday, the former employee said they never received any documents linked to the offer or severance agreement.

Other former employees made similar claims on Twitter.

One person asserted they had never gotten severance money or a written letter of termination.

No severance details had been sent to Shannon Liss-Riordan’s clients as of Thursday, a spokesperson for her said.

Her spokesperson, Kevin Ready, explained:

“There was some anticipation that they would be sent yesterday, but we haven’t seen that.”

Liss-Riordan, meanwhile, issued the following statement on Thursday:

“Yesterday was the official separation date for thousands of Twitter employees, and after months of chaos and uncertainty created by Elon Musk, these workers remain in the lurch.”

The layoffs

Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy the social networking firm in October.

Staff members began to express concerns as he started reducing expenses and paying off mounds of debt.

One month later, Musk kept letting employees go in waves.

He turned away even more workers by making those who remained pledge to put in “hardcore work.”

Musk promised the discharged employees a three-month severance package during the layoffs.

The timespan took into account the 60-day prior notice that Twitter was required to share.

Read also: Apartments in Manhattan saw a drop in sales

Other problems

After Musk took over, Twitter continued to face several issues.

When the company’s San Francisco office failed to pay the rent, a commercial landlord filed a lawsuit against Twitter for breach of contract.

According to a private flight provider, the company allegedly neglected to pay its costs.

Finally, to conserve money, Twitter was reported to have thought about denying offering severance to axed workers in December.

The website’s use of insiders with access to executive conversations heightened the sense of uncertainty among the layoff victims.

Due to the removal of most of the public relations team due to the layoffs, Twitter could not respond to the accusations.

Severance agreements

Fortune published a report about Twitter’s intention to provide severance compensation to sacked employees on Thursday afternoon.

However, it was unclear when the agreements would be publicly disclosed.

Screenshots and an anonymous person supported the accusation.

Former US Twitter employees would have received one month’s base pay under the severance agreements.

Additionally, there would be a clause mandating that employees abstain from taking part in ongoing legal actions launched against Twitter.

Lawsuits

On behalf of the fired workers, Shannon Liss-Riordan submitted four proposed class action lawsuits against Twitter.

The accusations included claims that the business failed to uphold its commitments to provide consistent benefits and remote work.

Additionally, they received complaints alleging discrimination on gender and disability.

Furthermore, Liss-Riordan filed three complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against the business.

On Thursday, she added 100 more arbitration demands against the social media giant.

The demands came after the first 100 last month.

In December, the workers won an early legal battle.

Before asking them to sign separation agreements that include claim releases, a judge ordered Twitter to notify the ex-employees of the lawsuit.

References:

Two months after mass Twitter layoffs, affected employees still waiting for severance offers

Twitter sued by landlord for allegedly failing to pay rent

Twitter still hasn’t released severance offer to laid-off employees

Image source: ARS Technica

Twitter: An employee whose job has been terminated or laid off may get monetary compensation or a severance offer from their employer.

It frequently serves as an avenue for the business to support the worker financially during the adjustment time following the layoff.

Salaries, benefits, and other payments may also be included in severance packages.

Employees said they hadn’t yet gotten a formal severance package or separation agreement despite Elon Musk releasing them two months earlier.

On Wednesday, the final official day of employment for those affected by the original layoffs, a former employee said they expected to hear something.

The news

Early Thursday, the former employee said they never received any documents linked to the offer or severance agreement.

Other former employees made similar claims on Twitter.

One person asserted they had never gotten severance money or a written letter of termination.

No severance details had been sent to Shannon Liss-Riordan’s clients as of Thursday, a spokesperson for her said.

Her spokesperson, Kevin Ready, explained:

“There was some anticipation that they would be sent yesterday, but we haven’t seen that.”

Liss-Riordan, meanwhile, issued the following statement on Thursday:

“Yesterday was the official separation date for thousands of Twitter employees, and after months of chaos and uncertainty created by Elon Musk, these workers remain in the lurch.”

The layoffs

Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy the social networking firm in October.

Staff members began to express concerns as he started reducing expenses and paying off mounds of debt.

One month later, Musk kept letting employees go in waves.

He turned away even more workers by making those who remained pledge to put in “hardcore work.”

Musk promised the discharged employees a three-month severance package during the layoffs.

The timespan took into account the 60-day prior notice that Twitter was required to share.

Read also: Apartments in Manhattan saw a drop in sales

Other problems

After Musk took over, Twitter continued to face several issues.

When the company’s San Francisco office failed to pay the rent, a commercial landlord filed a lawsuit against Twitter for breach of contract.

According to a private flight provider, the company allegedly neglected to pay its costs.

Finally, to conserve money, Twitter was reported to have thought about denying offering severance to axed workers in December.

The website’s use of insiders with access to executive conversations heightened the sense of uncertainty among the layoff victims.

Due to the removal of most of the public relations team due to the layoffs, Twitter could not respond to the accusations.

Severance agreements

Fortune published a report about Twitter’s intention to provide severance compensation to sacked employees on Thursday afternoon.

However, it was unclear when the agreements would be publicly disclosed.

Screenshots and an anonymous person supported the accusation.

Former US Twitter employees would have received one month’s base pay under the severance agreements.

Additionally, there would be a clause mandating that employees abstain from taking part in ongoing legal actions launched against Twitter.

Lawsuits

On behalf of the fired workers, Shannon Liss-Riordan submitted four proposed class action lawsuits against Twitter.

The accusations included claims that the business failed to uphold its commitments to provide consistent benefits and remote work.

Additionally, they received complaints alleging discrimination on gender and disability.

Furthermore, Liss-Riordan filed three complaints with the National Labor Relations Board against the business.

On Thursday, she added 100 more arbitration demands against the social media giant.

The demands came after the first 100 last month.

In December, the workers won an early legal battle.

Before asking them to sign separation agreements that include claim releases, a judge ordered Twitter to notify the ex-employees of the lawsuit.

References:

Two months after mass Twitter layoffs, affected employees still waiting for severance offers

Twitter sued by landlord for allegedly failing to pay rent

Copyright violations catch up to Midjourney AI as lawsuit looms

Copyright: Intellectual property rights are legal rights that protect creative works and inventions.

These rights include patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets.

Patents protect inventions and discoveries.

Copyrights protect creative works such as literature, music, and art.

Trademarks protect brand names and logos, and trade secrets protect confidential business information.

These rights give creators and inventors control over how their work is used and can prevent others from using it without permission.

Midjourney AI has ignored these intellectual rights, despite their importance, leading to a new lawsuit.

The news

A group of artists has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

They are charging DeviantArt, Midjourney, and Stability AI for alleged infringement of artists’ copyright in the creation of AI art.

Joseph Saveri Law Firm LLP, Matthew Butterick, and Lockridge, Grindal, Nauen PLLP represent the artists.

“As burgeoning technology continues to change every aspect of the modern world, it’s critical that we recognize and protect the rights of artists against unlawful theft and fraud,” said Joseph Saveri.

“This case represents a larger fight for preserving ownership rights for all artists and other creators.”

The lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, all involved artists seek compensation for the damages DeviantArt, Midjourney, and Stability AI caused.

The goal of the lawsuit is to prevent future harm.

Matthew Butterick wrote a post about the case, saying that the three companies are targeted by writers, artists, programmers, and other creators.

Most of the plaintiffs are concerned about using AI systems to be trained on a plethora of copyrighted work without consent, credit, and compensation.

The lawsuit not only seeks damages for violations but also seeks an injunction to avoid future problems.

Artist Karla Ortiz shared his excitement about the lawsuit on Twitter, saying:

“I am proud to be one of the plaintiffs for this class action suit. I am proud to do this with fellow peers, that we’ll give a voice to potentially thousands of affected artists.”

“I’m proud that now we fight for our rights not just in the public sphere but in the courts.”

Read also: Nike leaning towards Gen Z China consumers after Covid restrictions are lifted

The connection between the companies

While DeviantArt, Midjourney, and Stability AI are different companies, they all use Stable Diffusion.

Stable Diffusion is an AI product based on the billion images in the LAION-5B dataset.

According to the lawsuit, it was created with the involvement of billions of copyrighted images.

It also alleges that the images lead to the following:

  • Direct copyright infringement
  • Vicarious copyright infringement related to forgeries
  • Violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
  • Violation of class members’ rights to publicity
  • Breach of contract pertaining to the DeviantArt Terms of Service

Importance of copyright in art

Intellectual property rights, particularly copyright, are crucial for visual artists who create paintings and digital illustrations.

Copyright gives the artist exclusive rights to control how their works are used, which includes the right to reproduce, distribute, display, and create derivative works.

This means that others cannot use the artist’s work without their permission, including reproducing it, selling copies of it, or using it in other works without the artist’s consent.

These rights are essential for visual artists as they allow them to protect and monetize their work.

Without copyright, others could quickly reproduce and sell copies of an artist’s work without providing any compensation to the artist.

This would make it difficult for visual artists to make a living from their work.

Copyright allows visual artists to control how their work is used and presented.

They can choose to license their work for specific uses, such as for commercial use in advertising or film, and can set terms for how the work is used.

This allows artists to ensure that their work is used in a way that aligns with their vision and values.

In the digital age, copyrights are even more important for visual artists working with digital illustrations and paintings.

With the ease of reproducing and distributing digital files, it’s even more critical for visual artists to control how their work is used, distributed and monetized.

In summary, intellectual property rights, particularly copyright, are essential for visual artists as they allow them to protect and monetize their work and control how it is used.

It is essential for artists to make a living from their work and ensure that it is used in a way that aligns with their vision and values.

References:

DeviantArt, Midjourney face lawsuit for using ‘billions of copyrighted’ images in AI art

‘AI art’ companies & DeviantArt are being sued by artists