Record award of €550k to former Twitter senior executive

Twitter has been ordered to pay over 550,000 compensation to a former senior executive in its Irish -based operations in what is a record award by the Workplace Relations Commission for an unfair dismissal case.

The WRC heard that the social media giant - now known as X - decided that the employee had resigned when he failed to tick a box requiring him to agree to new unspecified pay and conditions within a one-day deadline in response to an e-mail from the company's new owner Elon Musk in November 2022 .

Complaint posted several messages to colleagues in which he stated he was leaving Twitter .

Mr Rooney 's access to Twitter ’s systems and network were closed off on November 18, 2022 without any form of communication before he received an automated message the following day which acknowledged his "decision to resign" In an e-mail sent to Twitter on November 26, 2022 , Mr Rooney disputed that he had resigned.

Twitter claimed Mr Rooney failed to provide documentation to substantiate his claims.

Twitter to pay Mr Rooney total compensation of 550,131 for unfair dismissal.

The previous highest award for an unfair dismissal case was 440,000 which tech firm Hyph Ireland ordered to pay to musician Mick Kiely in February after he had been fired as the company’s chief executive in 2021 .