Elon Musk and his company X have agreed to a settlement with former staff. The workers had sued for $500 million in unpaid severance.
The agreement was disclosed in a court filing on Wednesday. Both sides asked the San Francisco appeals court to delay a hearing. They said more time was needed to complete the paperwork.
Lawsuit followed massive layoffs
The case arose after Musk cut around 6,000 jobs in 2022. That was more than half of the company’s global workforce. Many of the dismissed staff challenged the severance packages in court.
So far, lawyers for the employees and representatives of X have not commented.
Court records confirmed that a settlement in principle had been reached. They also noted both parties are negotiating the final agreement.
Deal terms kept secret
The conditions of the settlement remain undisclosed. Any final version will need court approval.
Former employee Courtney McMillian led the case on behalf of affected workers. She argued thousands were denied benefits promised under the severance plan.
The lawsuit said staff should have received up to six months of pay. Instead, most received at most one month. Some got nothing.
Musk reshaped company through cuts
The layoffs dismantled core teams, including trust and safety, human rights, and media relations. Musk’s move marked one of the earliest major job cuts in the tech sector’s drive to cut costs.
Other technology giants later followed. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft announced tens of thousands of job losses. Those came after years of heavy hiring during the pandemic’s digital surge.
Similar strategy in government role
Earlier this year, Musk briefly headed President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. The office was tasked with reducing spending and cutting jobs. Musk applied the same method there, overseeing thousands of federal layoffs.
