The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection has launched an investigation following allegations made by six former employees against Twitter, implicating owner Elon Musk's leadership team in potential legal violations. The ex-employees claim that Twitter transformed its headquarters into a "Twitter Hotel," pressuring workers to stay up late to overhaul the social media platform.
The department stated on May 19 that it had opened a new complaint and would be conducting an investigation into the recent allegations. The former workers, including a former vice-president of real estate, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Delaware, asserting that Twitter failed to pay them the promised severance package. Twitter is currently seeking to have the case dismissed.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Musk's team allegedly mandated numerous modifications to the company's downtown San Francisco headquarters, located in a 1930s Art Deco building, which violated building codes. The changes reportedly included disabling lights and installing locks that wouldn't open during emergencies.
Tracy Hawkins, one of the plaintiffs and Twitter's former vice-president of real estate and workplace, had been responsible for overseeing the company's physical offices and leases. The lawsuit claims that Ms. Hawkins initially had no objections to Mr. Musk's takeover but was compelled to resign when he and his transition team demanded that she breach her professional ethics by causing Twitter to deliberately violate its leases and contracts. The lawsuit further alleges that Mr. Musk refused to pay rent for the building.
This isn't the first time San Francisco officials have dealt with Mr. Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October and downsized its workforce while converting parts of the headquarters into bedrooms.
Earlier this year, San Francisco building inspectors issued a two-week deadline for Twitter's construction contractor to submit a corrected building use permit if the company intended to continue using two conference rooms as bedrooms.
After Forbes reported on the beds, the city launched an investigation in December, prompting Mr. Musk to criticize San Francisco Mayor London Breed, despite no evidence implicating her in the inspection.