Ex-Twitter employee laid off weeks before maternity leave; describes experience of Elon Musk's takeover

Twitter employees who are in the company and who have been fired have both faced uncertainty and struggles since billionaire Elon Musk purchased the social media brand last year. One such employee, who was pregnant at the time of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, has revealed the impact of the layoffs on her life. Ali was fired in the first round of layoffs. 

According to a report by CNN, Bim Ali was pregnant at the time of the first round of layoffs. She had been planning to take a five-month maternity leave but found herself without a job and health insurance when her baby was born. She described the time before the acquisition by Elon Musk as uncertain as there was no clarity if he will complete the deal. And soon after the acquisition, she was told to leave in the first round of layoffs. 

Bim Ali is part of a class action suit against Musk and Twitter. In response to the layoffs, more than 1,500 former Twitter employees have taken legal action, filing arbitration demands and four class action lawsuits against Twitter in pursuit of additional severance they allege they were promised by the company prior to Musk's takeover. Some former workers have also alleged sex and disability discrimination and other issues, which the company has argued in court are without merit.

Also read: Facebook, Instagram parent company Meta to lay off thousands of employees this week

Twitter has moved to dismiss the four class action lawsuits, saying its layoffs were lawful and that employees should pursue their claims in arbitration. A judge ruled last month in the company's favor that at least some workers could not pursue their claims through a class action suit and must instead proceed through arbitration.

Times of Uncertainty at Twitter

Just weeks after Musk took over the micro-blogging site, and after the first round of layoffs, Musk warned the remaining employees that Twitter could go bankrupt. The woes of the social media platform grew as Twitter decided to restore some of the controversial accounts. As a result, ad companies scaled back and the ad revenue crashed for Twitter. This led to even more stress on employees to deliver the new Twitter Blue subscription service. The first rollout turned out to be disastrous for the company and it was rolled back. However, Elon Musk managed to roll out the new subscription in December last year. 

Late last month, Elon Musk conducted another round of layoffs where around 200 people were removed. Before the latest round of layoffs, TWitter reportedly had 2,000 employees. The company stood at a strength of around 7,500 before Musk took over Twitter.