Elon Musk’s Social Media Platform X Faces Legal Challenge Over Employee Termination

X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter and now under Elon Musk’s leadership, is facing legal troubles as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a complaint against the company. The complaint alleges that X unlawfully terminated an employee who had encouraged coworkers to resist the company’s return-to-office mandate.

According to the NLRB complaint, a senior X official had warned employees, “If you can physically make it to an office and you don’t show up, resignation accepted.” In response, one employee used the company’s Slack messaging platform to advise coworkers not to resign but to wait and be terminated instead. The NLRB contends that this employee’s termination was illegal, as it violated their right to engage in “protected concerted activity,” a legal concept that safeguards employees when they collectively address workplace concerns.

The NLRB, which safeguards workers’ rights to engage in concerted activity, is set to hold a hearing on the matter on January 30 in San Francisco. Unless X and the former employee reach a settlement beforehand, the NLRB’s general counsel intends to pursue the charge. X has not responded to requests for comment from CNN.

This complaint marks the first legal action taken against X by the NLRB since Elon Musk took control of the social media company in the past year. However, Musk has a history of clashes with the labor agency, particularly through his involvement with Tesla. The NLRB has previously cited both Musk and Tesla for engaging in illegal or improper anti-union activities, including acts of discrimination against pro-union employees. Musk has also publicly expressed his opposition to labor organizing, and in 2018, the NLRB directed him to delete a tweet that threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they chose to unionize.