- Elon Musk openly trolled a Twitter employee who wanted to know if he was still working.
- He told his employees to justify their work and posted laughing emojis and memes when they responded.
- The employee later admitted that he had been fired, but it is unclear whether he would be paid severance pay as per the contract.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk got into an online altercation with a Twitter employee who wanted to know if he was fired.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, using the Twitter handle @iamharaldur, Muttered with a mask on Monday night He lost access to his laptop 9 days ago and was unsure if he was still employed.
“But your HR manager can’t verify that I’m an employee. You haven’t responded to my emails,” Thorleifsson wrote.
Creative designer and father of two, Thorleifsson identifies himself on LinkedIn as the director of Twitter based in Reykjavik, Iceland. He founded the creative agency Ueno. Acquired by Twitter in 2021 Offices are listed in Iceland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
Four hours after Thorleifsson tweeted, Musk replied. “What kind of work have you been doing?” the CEO wrote.
When Thorleifsson replied that public disclosure of his work on Twitter would require permission from Twitter’s attorneys, Musk tweeted:
Thorleifsson named some of his duties and accomplishments, including hiring designers, helping the company appeal to younger users, and leading projects to “upgrade design across the company.” .
“Which design to level up to what? Photography or it didn’t happen,” Musk wrote. “I haven’t hired a design job in four months. What changes have you made to help young people?”
Soleifsson He replied that he had no access to photographs or documents as evidence. Because he was locked out of his computer.
Musk also posted a clip from the 1999 comedy film Office Space, asking Thorleifsson:
This meme clip features an exasperated employee trying to justify his role to two managers.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023
“Yes! I’m human!” Thorleifsson responded to Musk’s jibe.
When Thorleifsson responded to one of Musk’s questions by writing “Figma” and “all ongoing design projects,” the billionaire responded. With two laughing emojis.
Thorleifsson later tweeted that Twitter’s head of human resources had emailed him to confirm that he was no longer working for the company. “The next question is whether we get paid what we’re supposed to pay per contract!” he tweeted.
As of midnight EST, Musk did not respond further.
After the exchange with Mr. Musk, Mr. Tolleifsson tweeted that he was “okay” to be fired, saying it was “fair enough.”
“Companies let people go. It’s within their rights. They usually tell people about it, but now on Twitter it seems like an optional part,” Thorleifsson said. I have written.
His next focus, he added, is to receive retirement benefits as stated in his contract.
Thorleifsson also posted a photo of himself, revealing he uses a wheelchair.
— Hari (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023
Soleifsson We run a fund to build wheelchair ramps in Iceland.
In November, several former Twitter employees with disabilities filed a class action lawsuit against the social media company, alleging that job requests after Musk took over the company violated California and federal discrimination laws.
Engineer Dmitry Borodeenko, who was fired after Musk’s acquisition, said in the lawsuit that he was a cancer survivor and was fired after telling his manager that he wanted to work from home. He made the request out of concern that he was putting himself at “extra risk” of COVID-19, according to the lawsuit.
Thorleifsson, Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.