Elon Musk can't fire this Twitter employee. Here's why

Twitter’s global vice-president for public policy Sinead McSweeney (Image credit: @micatovich/Twitter)

Elon Musk, who has been on a firing spree after taking over Twitter, reducing the staff strength to nearly half, has one employee on his payroll that he cannot sack.

An Irland-based senior Twitter executive has secured a temporary high court injunction preventing the social media firm from firing her, The Irish Times reported.

Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s global vice-president for public policy, has admitted in the court that work had become more difficult after Elon Musk's takeover. She swore that she has been working for more than 75 hours a week as opposed to the 40 hours that was required of her contractually.

But problems arose when she did not respond to "a generic and vague email" sent by Musk to all Twitter employees earlier this month and was then treated as if she is no longer a part of the company. McSweeney was locked out of Twitter’s Dublin office and its internal IT systems, including her company email account.

Read more: Twitter not safer under Elon Musk, says former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth

The company also allegedly informed her she had accepted an exit package even when McSweeney claimed she did not resign.

Twitter then confirmed to the court that her commitment to her work “had never been questioned”, and assured her that access to the IT systems would be restored.

The high court then granted McSweeney an interim injunction preventing Twitter from terminating her contract of employment.

Read more: Elon Musk’s first 30 days at Twitter | What’s new on Twitter? | Who’s in & who’s out of Twitter 2.0?