Former Twitter CMO Suing Elon Musk $20M in Unpaid Severance

Santa Clara, CAElon Musk is facing yet another legal battle. A former Twitter chief marketing officer has filed a California labor lawsuit against Elon Musk, claiming she is owed more than $20 million in unpaid severance. Leslie Berland was CMO for the social media platform for seven years before she was fired, just five days after Musk acquired Twitter, now known as X, in November 2022.

During those five days, Berland says she was the only "primary Twitter executive" Musk was speaking to, and he personally selected Berland as the point person for his own and his transition team's needs, according to her complaint. Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter on October 27, 2022, for $44 billion. On October 31, he met with advertisers during which he "went off script" and suggested re-instating Donald Trump's then-suspended Twitter account, according to Business Insider. A Twitter employee who attended the meeting on Berland’s recommendation cautioned Musk against reinstating Trump in front of the advertisers, apparently leaving him "embarrassed and angry."

According to Berland’s lawsuit, which was filed on November 1 in California's northern district court and first reported by Bloomberg Law, she was wrongfully fired after that disagreement connected to Trump’s Twitter account. She claims Musk fired her as “petty retribution" over the above incident with Twitter's advertisers. The Twitter employee she recommended was also fired a few hours after Musk texted" JP is not going to work out. Bad recommendation," to Berland.

$20 Million Severance

Berland justifies the $20 million owing in benefits based on a change of control agreement she signed with Twitter in 2014 that details the compensation she would receive if she was involuntarily terminated from the company following a change in ownership. Under Twitter's Change of Control and Involuntary Termination Protection Policy, which was still in place at the time of her dismissal, she had not been fired "for Cause," according to the documents. (In March 2024, former Twitter executives Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett filed an ERISA lawsuit against Musk and X Corp. claiming they are owed a combined $128 million in severance pay.)

More Lawsuits against Musk

It’s likely a good thing that the electric car maker has deep pockets. Bloomberg News reports that Musk, along with his company X Corp., is a defendant or a plaintiff in more than six ongoing legal battles, along with about 12 others involving his companies. He faces multiple racism lawsuits filed in state and federal courts filed by former and current employees, California’s civil rights department and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Add to the fray numerous California labor lawsuits and workplace violations incurred since Musk acquired Twitter, including breaking promises to pay severance to Berland and other executives and thousands of workers.

Wait, there’s more: SpaceX faces multiple gender-discrimination and suits and labor violations, and the Mercury News tallies that, collectively, the lawsuits seek hundreds of millions of dollars in back pay.

Berland can likely move forward with her lawsuit. Bloomberg reported that the same day she filed her complaint, another CEO and other high-ranking officials were given the green light to litigate their severance payments. But a federal judge recently dismissed a case seeking at least $500 million in severance on behalf of about 6,000 employees. The workers have filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 

It will be interesting to see how litigation will shape once Musk co-leads a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, an entity Trump announced will operate outside the confines of government.