X faces legal heat again: Allegedly employee was fired for being critical of Elon Musk’s plans

X, formerly known as Twitter, finds itself entangled in legal issues yet again. In a recent development, a legal marketing company named X Social Media has slapped X with a lawsuit, claiming that the new name of the social media platform infringes on its trademark, which features the letter “X.” This adds to the company’s legal challenges, with another lawsuit now on the horizon.

According to the NLRB, X’s termination of Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, shortly after Musk took over Twitter, violated the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB contends that X fired Yue after she sought to organize fellow Twitter employees who were dissatisfied with Musk’s sudden changes to the company’s work requirements.

Musk’s alleged statement, “If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted,” triggered concern and outrage among several employees, according to the NLRB. Yue responded with a tweet encouraging employees not to resign but to let the company fire them, stating, “You gain literally nothing out of resignation.” She also shared a similar message in the company Slack channel.

Yue’s messages received responses from many colleagues, as outlined in the legal charge document. Meanwhile, Musk instructed his management team to monitor online posts and Slack communications “to identify who should be fired,” according to the document.

 
Yue got the boot five days later, with the reason given as a breach of some unspecified company policy, according to the legal document. “Ms. Yue alleges that Twitter chose her for layoff in retaliation for her attempt to organize her co-workers not to resign, so they would have better legal footing to challenge any separation from Twitter,” the document stated.

The NLRB is throwing shade at X, claiming the company has been “interfering with, restraining, and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed” under national labor law.

 
To fix what it calls unfair labor moves, the NLRB wants to make things right for Yao Yue. It’s looking to cover any money hits she took directly or could see coming, plus other damages from what it is calling X’s shady business. Mark your calendars for January 30; that is when the case heads to a hearing in San Francisco.