A Twitter exec quit over arguments he install illegal locks and heaters that 'would put lives at risk' in headquarters' bedrooms, lawsuit says

• A lawsuit accuses Elon Musk of risking Twitter staff's lives with illegal locks on office bedrooms.
• An exec was told locks that would automatically open in case of a fire were too expensive, the suit says.

A top Twitter manager quit the company after refusing to install locks in the headquarters' bedrooms which contravened building regulations and could risk staff's lives in the case of a fire, a lawsuit says.

Six ex-Twitter employees filed the complaint against Musk and his company in the Delaware District Court on Tuesday.

Joseph Killian, Twitter's former global head of construction design who is also a plaintiff, was told to make several changes to the bedrooms set up for Elon Musk's staff, the suit says.

He was also instructed not to tell city inspectors about these future plans, including en-suite bathrooms, the lawsuit says.

Most notably, that includes adding locks which wouldn't automatically open when the fire suppression system was activated – a violation of California building codes – according to the complaint.

The suit alleges he was repeatedly told to get cheaper, noncompliant ones because the others were too expensive.

Killian argued that this "would put lives at risk" because staff could be stuck in the bedrooms in the case of an earthquake or fire, the complaint says.

He instead quit, and the unsafe locks were added by somebody else, the court filing says.

The suit says the instructions were given to him via Musk's transition team, a group of advisors including Boring Company CEO Steve Davis, who were brought on to help build Twitter 2.0.

The lawsuit accuses Musk of showing "reckless disregard" for "both the law and for the lives and safety of his colleagues and employees."

According to the complaint, a fire in the bedrooms would be more likely due to unlicensed space heaters and noncompliant electrical work Killian was instructed to add.

He was told to evade the landlord's lighting-control system because the motion-sensitive lights were annoying people trying to sleep in the bedrooms – but they were necessary to comply with California's energy efficiency Title 24 code – the complaint says.

The landlord rejected this request and Davis' wife — who isn't employed by Musk but slept at Twitter's headquarters — berated Killian, so he hired an electrician to do it instead, according to the suit.

In November, Musk emailed all Twitter staff telling them to commit to working "extremely hardcore" or be laid off. He'd previously told them to expect to work 80 hours a week, and one executive — who was later fired — was pictured in a sleeping bag.

Pictures of the sleeping quarters from December show beds and couches added to conference rooms, but the suit says Davis told Killian to plan for additional changes beyond "just furniture" which went against building codes and permits.

Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.