Twitter had the need to tell its employees that the email they received about their severance agreements ‘isn’t a phishing effort’ after many people went straight for spam.

Twitter employees were instructed to check their spam folder if their severance agreement was not received.Hannibal Hanschke/Pool photo via AP
Twitter had to assure laid-off employees that an email regarding severance agreements was real. It was sent from an external address. Twitter warned that it could be in spam filters.

Twitter had to clarify to employees that the email they received along with their severance contracts “isn’t a phishing effort.”

Elon Musk had taken control of the company on November 4th, a week before social media giant Facebook laid off thousands of workers. Two months later, hundreds more workers received their separation agreements with details on severance payments.

Insider’s Kali Hays reported that many recipients were flagged as spam by the email alerting them. The email was sent from “twitterseparation@cptgroup.com” in the early hours of Saturday and contained login information for a CPT Group website, where they could view their full separation agreements.

Twitter has since assured laid-off employees that the email was authentic.

“We are writing to confirm that CPT Group has been engaged to assist us with the distribution Twitter Separation Agreements across the United States,” reads a follow up email sent on Saturday by a Twitter HR account. Insider viewed the email, which was entitled “Your Twitter Separation Agreement”. It stated that former staff had received an email from CPT Group with their login details to access their separation agreements online.

The follow-up email stated that “This email was an official communication from the company and is not a phishing effort.” If you have not received your agreement via email, please check your spam mailbox. People should contact twitterseparation@cptgroup.com if they had any questions or hadn’t received an email with a login, Twitter said.

CPT Group is located in Irvine, California and describes itself as “leading provider of notice-settlement class action administration services.”

Parker Lyons, an ex-Twitter employee, tweeted that “If you were curious about the current state Twitter, many people just received their separation agreements within their spam folders, which pointing to URLs that were registered this morning by a vendor with 1 star BBB rating”, on Saturday. This was in reference to CPT Group’s low rating on the Better Business Bureau site. “If they were still there, I would have reported it as phishing.”

Twitter and CPT Group didn’t respond to Insider’s request of comment. This was outside of their normal working hours.

Ex-Twitter workers who were frustrated had waited for their separation packages for over two months. Many claim they were disappointed with what the company offered them. In return for their agreement not to speak publicly or participate in lawsuits against Twitter, the contracts provide one month of severance payment.

Musk previously stated that employees who leave the company would receive three months of severance. Musk appeared to have meant the two months of “nonworking employment” during which workers were paid while they waited to receive severance.

Business Insider has the original article.
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By: gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean)
Title: Twitter has had to tell staff its email about their severance agreement ‘is not a phishing attempt’ after many went straight to spam
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs-severance-agreement-email-not-phishing-attempt-2023-1
Published Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2023 11:59:13 +0000