How Ghana's Labour Act helped laid-off Twitter Africa staff to secure compensation

In November 2022 the owners of Twitter Inc. sold the global social media giant to billionaire Elon Musk, a seismic series of events took place.

Key among them being mass layoffs in its offices across the world.

A group of young Africans in the newly opened Twitter Africa office in Accra were among the victims of a layoff that they described as arbitrarily done.

They invoked Ghanaian laws on redundancy and dragged the company (now known as X) to court with the view to enforce their rights and demand their due by way of compensation.

After a long-drawn legal process, the agency that represented the staff, Agency Seven Seven, announced that it had led successful negotiations to get a fair settlement for the group.

In a statement dated February 17, 2024; the agency noted that it invoked provisions in Ghana's Labour Laws to achieve the feat, without giving any further details.

"The team, who were initially laid off without any severance in November 2022 subsequent to the sale of Twitter Inc to Mr. Elon Musk, were seeking to enforce their rights under the redundancy provisions of Ghana's Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

"Section 65 of the Labour Act require employers to file a notice with the Chief Labour Officer of Ghana and then to engage in settlement negotiations with affected staff before implementing a redundancy exercise," part of their statement read.

It emphasized that the particular section of the Labour Act "is an important rule of Ghana's Labour and Employment Law landscape, and one that serves to mitigate against the employee hardship that can result when corporations engage in mass redundancy exercises."

Read their full statement below:

AGENCY SEVEN SEVEN SUCCESSFULLY SECURES REDUNDANCY SETTLEMENT FOR FORMER STAFF MEMBERS OF TWITTER GHANA LIMITED

Press Release February 17, 2024

Accra - Agency Seven Seven has successfully led negotiations on behalf of former staff members of Twitter Ghana Ltd in their quest to get a fair settlement and repatriation expenses for foreign staff.

The team, who were initially laid off without any severance in November 2022 subsequent to the sale of Twitter Inc to Mr. Elon Musk, were seeking to enforce their rights under the redundancy provisions of Ghana's Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

Section 65 of the Labour Act require employers to file a notice with the Chief Labour Officer of Ghana and then to engage in settlement negotiations with affected staff before implementing a redundancy exercise.

This is an important rule of Ghana's Labour and Employment Law landscape, and one that serves to mitigate against the employee hardship that can result when corporations engage in mass redundancy exercises.

BREAKING: Twitter finally pays former Accra-based African team laid off after Elon Musk takeover, their lawyer says.

They were not offered severance until CNN reported it. Multinationals “must respect our laws when they operate in Ghana,” Carla Olympio said after “important win” pic.twitter.com/OVJJStz7Ey

— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) February 17, 2024