Yay, that one gonna' cost you

As nearly anyone in law or human resources will tell you, don't fuck with California Labor Laws. Here is where Musk screwed up and documented it.

Head Twit Elon Musk has sent out a missive to all employees that he expects workers to stay more than 8 hours a day and sign a contract they will do that.

You can't do that, Blanche.

You see to be paid by a set amount per week, you have to be "exempt". As in exempt from many labor laws. HOWEVER to be "exempt" you have to be a manager whose primary job is administrative. Now there is a Computer Worker semi-exception. Those employees actually can be worked overtime without being paid overtime. (LINK)

BUT, there is a list of requirements. The original is posted with my highlights to the State of California Department of Labor :-) are in blue.

And you should never announce in the media, at least inside California, you are going to fuck with workers. They will hunt your ass down.

6.3. Computer Professionals

Employees in the computer software field are sometimes exempt for the purposes of overtime compensation.⁠ To qualify for this exemption, the following requirements must be met:

The employee must be primarily engaged in work that is intellectual or creative.⁠ Well, this is definitely not true for ALL his employees, but let's say he can pass this.

The employee’s primary duties must require the exercise of discretion and independent judgment.⁠ Yeah, someone working for Ego Musk can be creative, but still he could probably pass this test too.

The employee must be highly skilled in a field of computer systems analysis, programming, or software engineering.⁠ Checkmark

The employee’s primary duties must involve designing or developing computer hardware or software.⁠ Okay, here he would be in trouble. Despite Elon wanting to drive this as a tech heavy company, there are tons of  other jobs that won't pass this requirement.

If the employee is hourly, they must be paid at least $46.55 per hour.⁠ If the employee is salaried, they must earn at least $96,968.33 per year.⁠ 

- Source: https://wrklyrs.com/Exempt#section_6-4

FINALLY THERE IS THIS

Exempt, in this case, is exempt from paying overtime rates. You still have to pay normal rates (for hourly workers).

I'm not saying Twitter are breaking California laws. I mean, I am saying they are planning to, but that isn't the point. The point is that California will now adit everything you do via HR. That is not a good place to be (hence why he moved Tesla to Texas - but it too late now, he announced and nearly all twitter employees are in California.