Tesla sued by former employees due to “mass dismissal”

A Tesla logo was seen in Los Angeles, California USA January 12, 2018. REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson / File Photo

June 20 (Reuters) – Former employees of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) have filed a lawsuit against the US electric car company alleging that their decision to conduct a “mass layoff” was in violation of federal law as the company did not give prior notice of the job. cut.

The lawsuit was filed late Sunday in Texas by two workers who said they were terminated from Tesla’s gig factory in Sparks, Nevada in June. According to the lawsuit, more than 500 employees were laid off at the plant in Nevada.

The workers claim that the company did not comply with federal laws on mass redundancies that require a 60-day notice period under the Workers’ Adjustment and Retraining Act, according to the lawsuit.

They are seeking class action status for all former Tesla employees throughout the United States who were laid off in May or June without prior notice.

“Tesla has simply notified the employees that their dismissals will take effect immediately,” the complaint states.

Tesla, which has not commented on the number of layoffs, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Musk, the world’s richest man, said earlier this month that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and that Tesla needed to cut employees by around 10%, according to an email seen by Reuters. read more

More than 20 people who identified themselves as Tesla employees said they were laid off, fired or had jobs terminated this month, according to online records and interviews with Reuters. read more

The case, brought by John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield, who were fired on June 10 and June 15, respectively, seeks pay and benefits for a 60-day notice period.

“It is quite shocking that Tesla would only obviously violate federal labor law by dismissing so many workers without giving the necessary notice,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, a lawyer representing workers to Reuters.

She said that Tesla offers some employees only one week of severance pay, and added that she is preparing an emergency with a court to try to block Tesla from trying to get layoffs from employees in exchange for just one week of severance pay.

The case was filed in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas.

Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; editing by Richard Pullin

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