Ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Can Proceed with Severance Pay Claim Against Elon Musk

Washington: A US District Court judge has ruled that former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, along with other top executives, can proceed with their severance pay claims against Elon Musk. This ruling comes as a setback for Musk, who had sought to dismiss the claims.

The lawsuit, filed in March, alleges that Musk terminated Agrawal and other executives, including Vijaya Gadde, Ned Segal, and Sean Edgett, right as he was closing his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022. The plaintiffs argue that this move was intended to avoid paying them severance benefits, which include one year’s salary and unvested stock awards valued at the acquisition price.

The court’s decision allows Agrawal and his co-plaintiffs to pursue their claims, which they assert are worth over $128 million in unpaid severance payments. This case is part of a broader legal battle Musk faces over employee compensation following his takeover of Twitter, now rebranded as X Corp.

Judge Maxine Chesney, overseeing the case, also denied Musk’s request to dismiss a similar claim filed by Nicholas Caldwell, a former general manager at Twitter, who is seeking $20 million in compensation for lost severance.

This ruling marks another chapter in the ongoing legal challenges Musk faces related to his management of Twitter and the mass layoffs that followed his acquisition of the social media giant.