Elon Musk faces probe for turning Twitter's San Francisco office into 'hotel rooms'

Elon Musk faces probe for turning Twitter's San Francisco office into 'hotel rooms'

The staff was even instructed to simply reduce the rent to pay landlords who owed the space.

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Sunday, May 21, 2023, 05:10 PM IST
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Elon Musk faces probe for turning Twitter's San Francisco office into 'hotel rooms' | File Photo

Twitter owner Elon Musk is under investigation after six former employees claimed that the company breached law by converting its San Francisco headquarter into a Twitter Hotel for workers that needed to work late, reported CNBC.

Musk is facing a probe over violation of building code at the company’s headquarters, reported the outlet citing online public records with the Department of Building Inspection.

The investigation comes after former Twitter employees filed a complaint in Delaware court on May 16 claiming Twitter’s transition team deliberately and repeatedly directed them to violate local as well as federal regulations that also included making changes in the office space that were unsafe for the employees.

Employees asked to turn offices to bedrooms

According to the lawsuit, X Corp had directed its employees to turn the rooms in the office into hotel rooms while the company lied to the inspectors and landlords that these were temporary spaces for resting with some furniture for comfort but no structural or substantive changes.

Twitter employees asked to install locks to temporary bedrooms

The complaint by the former employees also mentions that they were instructed to install locks on the hotel room or temporary resting spaces which was in violation to an California requirement that states that the locks need to automatically disengage if and when the fire suppression systems in the building are triggered.

They further stated that the transition team asked them to install cheap locks that were not compliant with life safety and egress codes as the locks were too expensive.

Musk asks staff to not pay rent

The complaint also stated that the team led by Musk also ordered the staff involved in real estate management to cut costs by over $500 million as soon as they could. The staff was even instructed to simply reduce the rent to pay landlords who owed the space.

The lawsuit said that Joseph Killian, a plaintiff who worked at Twitter for 12 years and oversaw office design, was aware that Musk decided to stop paying office rent.

"Killian attempted to convince Musk, via Mendoza, of the danger of Musk's new position that no rent would be paid whatsoever, pointing out that any attempt to renegotiate the terms of Twitter's many leases would be doomed to failure," the lawsuit alleged.

"Elon told me he would only pay rent over his dead body," Pablo Mendoza, a venture capitalist who invested in Twitter 2.0 responded during the conversation that took place at 4 a.m, according to the lawsuit.

As per reports and pictures accessed by BBC, Musk converted the office space into bedrooms in December 2022. Conference rooms and sofas were being used as beds showed the images.

The case also claims that the social media giant terminated certain senior workers based on their age, gender and sexual orientation and it also failed to give them the benefits, severance compensation and back pay.

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