Elon Musk and his company X have reached a settlement with former staff. The employees 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 they needed more time to finalize the paperwork.
Lawsuit followed mass dismissals
The case began after Musk cut around 6,000 jobs in 2022. That number accounted for more than half of the company’s workforce. Many of the dismissed workers challenged the severance conditions.
Neither the lawyers for the staff nor X’s representatives have issued any comments.
Court documents confirmed the parties had reached a settlement in principle. They also noted that negotiations for a detailed agreement are ongoing.
Terms remain confidential
The terms of the deal have not yet been revealed. A court must approve the settlement before it becomes final.
Former employee Courtney McMillian led the lawsuit. She claimed thousands of staff were denied the benefits promised under the severance plan.
The case argued that employees should have received up to six months of pay. Instead, most got only one month. Some got nothing.
Musk’s cuts reshaped platform operations
The layoffs dismantled entire departments, including trust and safety, human rights, and media relations. Musk’s actions marked one of the first major cost-cutting moves in the tech industry.
Other firms soon took similar steps. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook announced tens of thousands of job cuts. Those reductions followed years of heavy hiring during the pandemic’s digital boom.
Similar approach in government role
Earlier this year, Musk briefly led President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. The agency was tasked with reducing costs and shrinking staff. Musk applied the same method there, overseeing thousands of federal job cuts.
