After more delays this week, some former Twitter employees finally received formal severance agreements on Saturday after months of waiting, according to several sources familiar with the matter. However, the compensation was lower than expected, and the email ended up in the spam folder.
After Elon Musk took control of the social media giant in late October, about three-quarters of the company’s 7,500 staff were let go in a series of layoffs. Musk tweeted that those affected will receive “3 months of severance compensation.” Twitter’s leadership previously promised to offer at least two months of severance pay as well as a prorated performance bonus, full visa support, money for health care, and cash value of equity to be taken over three months, according to Los Angeles Times.
However, as previously reported, the agreement submitted today provides the laid-off employees in the US with one month’s basic salary as severance pay. Those who were let go in November have been kept on the payroll and have been paid regular wages for the previous 60 days due to the requirements of the federal WARN Act, which mandates that companies give 60 days notice before mass layoffs. Although the workers had been banned from the company’s internal system since November, they were officially released on January 4 in accordance with the law.
What’s more, employees will not receive prorated performance bonuses, according to Twitter severance materials reviewed by fortune. Some employees receive COBRA, which is money for health care, sources said.
“I mean I hope they’re going to annoy us (her),” the affected employee wrote fortune. “That’s about 1/3 of the contract debt based on the purchase agreement.”
Although employees were given two months’ pay during the “no work” period to comply with the federal WARN Act, attorneys for two class-action lawsuits against Twitter argued that the money should not have been included in the severance paid to employees. Los Angeles Times reported.
Not all affected employees received approval, several sources said fortune. The agreement is delivered by a third-party service provider called CPT Group, instead of an internal HR service. It is not clear why so few received the agreement, but many found the agreement in their spam folder, sources said.
Sources have pointed out some hiccups in the process, too. Those who received the agreement today were given a unique login and directed to visit the domain, but the domain was set up about 5 hours before the severance agreement went out and did not have a Twitter name, leading many to believe it was a phishing attempt.
After signing and viewing the severance agreement, former employees have the option to sign or opt out of the agreement, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The website has an FAQ page stating that affected employees can expect payment within 45 days of the signed agreement. The downloadable “Additional Questions and Answers” document confirms that employees will not receive performance bonus payments, which are due in March, and that there will be “no negotiation of agreements or severance amounts listed.”
Up to 5,500 fired Twitter employees will receive formal severance agreements, fortune reported earlier.
fortune reached out to Twitter outside of normal business hours but did not immediately receive a reply.