The Labour Court has adjourned to consider an appeal taken by X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, against a record unfair dismissal award of €550,131 to a former executive.
In a ruling in August 2024, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that Twitter had unfairly dismissed the company's former Director of Source to Pay, Gary Rooney in December 2022.
Mr Rooney had failed to respond to the "Fork in the Road" email from X owner Elon Musk in November 2022, in which employees were asked to click "yes" if they wanted to remain on with the company, adding that they would need to be "extremely hardcore" and work "long hours at high intensity".
Mason Eaves, Director of Technical Accounting at X gave evidence at today's Labour Court hearing.
Asked what happened to the Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors of Twitter when the company was taken over by Elon Musk, Mr Eaves said the entire board was replaced by Mr Musk and that he is the sole member of the board.
In his closing address to the Labour Court, Padraic Lyons SC for Mr Rooney said this was a "paradigm case of direct dismissal".
He told the court that the conduct of the employer had been "manifestly unreasonable".
In February 2025, Elon Musk famously brandished a chainsaw when announcing plans to cut bureaucracy and waste in the US federal government.
Mr Lyons said that the chainsaw was characteristic of the stance that Mr Musk took when it came to Twitter and to his client Mr Rooney.
He said they have calculated Mr Rooney's remuneration for 2022 at €344,703, made up of a base salary of €137,000 as well as employer contributions, bonuses and benefits.
This figure includes "restricted stock units" (RSUs), a form of employee compensation that grants shares of company stock.
Mr Lyons said that Mr Rooney should get the maximum unfair dismissals award of two years remuneration which they have calculated to be €689,406.
In her closing submission, Cathy Smith SC for X said this was not a direct dismissal, but rather an offer of voluntary severance.
Ms Smith said that while everybody accepts that the 'Fork in the Road' email was unusual, it was not unclear.
"Mr Rooney had a choice and just had to click 'yes' if he wanted to stay on at the company," she said.
She told the court that Mr Rooney's remuneration figure should not include bonuses or RSUs, because remuneration is for hours worked and the RSUs were not pay for hours worked.
Ms Smith said that under their calculations, the exclusion of bonuses and RSUs would bring the maximum compensation amount to €316,118.
The Labour Court has adjourned to consider the appeal and will deliver its ruling at a future date.
