"Following mass Twitter Japan firings, some call for legal action", 8 November 2022

As former Twitter Japan employees tweeted emotional goodbyes to their colleagues in the wake of platform owner Elon Musk’s cost-cutting global mass firings, it didn’t take long for discussion of employment rights and Japan’s labour laws to enter the conversation.

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Japan is the tech giant’s second biggest market, with the platform gaining wide-scale adoption after being utilized by government bodies to communicate with the public during natural disasters...

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It is generally considered difficult to lay off employees in Japan. While staff can be let go due to dire financial circumstances, companies typically need to prove they have been operating in the red, demonstrate that attempts were made to avoid dismissals and, if lay offs are called for, show that the selection process governing dismissals is carried out in a fair and objective manner.

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Employment lawyers in Japan have already tweeted offers to help those affected by the layoffs.

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If legal action goes ahead in Japan, this will be yet another challenge for Twitter’s new owner to navigate. Twitter has been widely criticized for the cuts, which Musk said were unavoidable “when the company is losing over $4M/day.”