Elon Musk Discloses Former Employee’s Disability in Twitter Exchange; later apologizes

tech.hindustantimes.com:

A Twitter Inc. employee trying to gain clarity as to whether he was fired was mocked by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who chatted openly about the worker's disability status to other people on Twitter — before apologizing a day later.

Halli Thorleifsson, a senior director whose design firm Ueno was bought by Twitter in 2021, tweeted at Musk on Monday that his access to a work computer had been revoked, and that he wasn't able to receive an answer from human resources as to whether he still worked at the company. In public replies, Musk asked what kind of work Thorleifsson was doing and what its value was, then sent memes and emoji mocking Thorleifsson's responses. Thorleifsson later said HR reached out to him and confirmed he was no longer a Twitter employee.

Musk then publicly discussed Thorleifsson's disability with a third party in a separate tweet. The Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that US employers keep their employees' disability status confidential. The ADA also offers certain protections to workers with disabilities, and prohibits discrimination, such as decisions in hiring or firing, that are based on disability.

“The reality is that this guy (who is independently wealthy) did no actual work, claimed as his excuse that he had a disability that prevented him from typing, yet was simultaneously tweeting up a storm,” Musk wrote. “Can't say I have a lot of respect for that.” He also suggested that Thorleifsson only tweeted at him for “a big payout.”

Thorleifsson later detailed the limitations of his muscular dystrophy with followers, adding that he was able to write threads on Twitter through his phone, given that it allows him to type with one finger. His disability, he added, wasn't a major