Was Sam laid off or terminated for cause (and was the cause justified)? Not a lawyer, but other than lying or an administrative screw up it seems like a for-cause termination might explain the situation.
Imagine a company going through layoffs when it discovers an employee had been embezzling funds. Does that employee have to be treated the same as the ones who are simply being laid off? What if that employee WAS going to be laid off, but then the embezzlement was discovered? I guess that’s what the lawyers help to decide…
I’m sorry. You’re right. I did not mean to insinuate that Sam was embezzling from Twitter.