According to the suit, more than 500 employees at Tesla’s Nevada factory were terminated.
San Francisco:
Former Tesla Inc employees have filed a lawsuit against the US electric car company, alleging that its decision to conduct “mass layoffs” violated federal law because the company did not give advance notice of job cuts.
The lawsuit was filed late Sunday in Texas by two workers who said they were terminated from Tesla’s Gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nevada, in June. According to the suit, more than 500 workers were fired at the Nevada factory.
The workers allege that the company failed to comply with federal laws on mass layoffs, which require a 60-day notification period under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, according to the lawsuit.
They are demanding class action status for all former Tesla employees across the United States who were laid off in May or June without any advance notice.
“Tesla has only informed employees that their dismissals will be effective immediately,” the complaint said.
Tesla, which did not comment on the number of layoffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit.
Musk, the world’s richest man, said earlier this month he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and that Tesla needed to cut staff by about 10%, according to an email seen by Reuters.
According to online postings and interviews with Reuters, more than 20 people identifying themselves as Tesla employees said they had been laid off, let go or terminated this month.
Actions filed by John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield, who were fired on June 10 and June 15, respectively, seek pay and benefits for a 60-day notification period.
Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney representing the workers, told Reuters: “It is very shocking that Tesla violated federal labor law by laying off so many workers without giving the necessary notice.”
She said that Tesla is offering some employees only one week of severance, adding that it wants to file an emergency with a court to prevent Tesla from trying to obtain a release from employees in exchange for only one week of severance. Preparing proposal.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court, Western District of Texas.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)