X Corp., the company formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, is claiming money from at least six former Australian employees, alleging that they were overcompensated by mistake after being fired. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “X is threatening to take some former Australian employees to court, demanding the return of compensations that, according to them, were overpaid due to an error in the currency conversion from US dollars to Australian dollars in the payments.”
The human resources department of X in Asia-Pacific sent several emails to the employees dismissed this year, informing them about “a significant overpayment by mistake in January 2023.” The alleged overpayments range from $1,500 to $70,000 per employee. So far, none of the former employees have returned the money, as revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald.
The company explained that the overpayment was related to the “deferred cash compensation” in the form of shares issued to staff upon joining Twitter. These shares were valued at $54.20 (AUD 82) each, the price at which Musk bought Twitter in 2022. The error occurred when paying the rights to the shares at a conversion rate 2.5 times higher than the value of the shares. Upon realizing the mistake, X asked the dismissed employees to refund the money “as soon as possible” and warned that the company reserved the right to legally claim the return of the money plus interest.
Hayden Stephens, labor law specialist, commented that former employees of X could be required to repay the money, but they should “ask X to clearly explain how the error occurred and request documentary evidence to justify it.” If there was a genuine mistake, “there is usually an obligation to repay that money” according to Australian labor legislation.
The tables are turned in the United States
The situation for former Australian employees would be just the opposite of what former US workers are experiencing, who are still fighting for their compensation. X has already received several lawsuits and arbitration claims from about 2,000 former employees seeking compensation for their dismissals.
Musk has also received several lawsuits in the United States after refusing to pay several Twitter providers. In addition, X faces a lawsuit from four former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, who claims that Musk defrauded them of more than $128 million in severance pay.
