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Comment by sbf501 | Hacker News Reader

It is illegal to do layoffs like this at scale without following the California WARN act:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/03/tech/twitter-layoffs/inde...

It's a dick move and demonstrates someone who doesn't understand how to build worker loyalty. Forcing people to tap dance 80+ hours a week or be fired (without mega compensation) doesn't earn you loyalty. Yeah, he claims he works 120 hour weeks, but he also reaps nearly all of the compensation.

But I think the benefit of all this is having someone trying to break the laws. He's pentesting federal & state worker protections. That's a good thing in the long term, not so much in the short term.

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I'm well aware of the law, it has been posted everywhere. However, the article questions itself, because it doesn't say how many have actually been laid off, when that date is effective or if they will just get their pay for 60 days; so he might not even be in violation. I don't think Elon is just doing this all solo, he probably has a legal department and also has advice from one of his co-investors which is still Jack Dorsey.

All of which kind of supports my point of the media doing a bit of a hitjob. They did the same during the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a huge portion of the reporting came out to later be mostly not true. The irony is that the media may be doing exactly what they want Twitter to crack down on.

"They" did the same thing? What was "mostly not true" about the CA scandal?

Yes, "they" as in the media at large. I don't know what you're trying to get at with your quotation marks. Most media are corporate owned and by only a few companies. With journalists sharing talking points and share stories (remember JournaList, that was buried quick.) Now they do Slack channels, etc. You can even slowly see a talking point emerge where several large journalist accounts use the same verbiage and phrases, it's kind of interesting to watch.

It has been reported on here on HN multiple times on how a large part of the CA scandal was not actually as big as the media portrayed. The media loves to make a bigger scandal out of something then slowly backtrack it over time. It happens a lot. Scandals get clicks and eyeballs.

> You can even slowly see a talking point emerge where several large journalist accounts

That's true. The "2020 election was stolen" lie was amplified by all the mainstream media. Word for word.

They might still technically be employed and receiving paychecks for 60 days to keep this legal.

Yeah, just learned that they are paid until Feb 2023 and RSUs vest.

Vacation time!

They’ll be among the few tech employees whose equity didn’t get decimated this year.

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