Photo: Tesla
Our readers will remember that SpaceX fired nine employees after they wrote an open letter urging Elon Musk to stop tweeting because that was “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment" for the company and its employees. The story about the Tesla CEO allegedly sexually harassing a flight attendant was still in the headlines. According to Bloomberg, that also happened in Tesla with two workers. They are now preparing to sue Tesla for illegally firing them.
At Tesla, these employees were fired even before they presented their letters. The objective was to publicly criticize Musk’s behavior. To be more specific, one of the letters would focus on a CEO tweet that they believe hurt Tesla’s anti-harassment policy, and the other would ask the company to reconsider its new return-to-office rules. It is a pity that none of the two letters ever made it to public knowledge.
The two former Tesla employees filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They claim that what Tesla did violates U.S. federal labor laws. They forbid companies from doing anything against workers who take collective actions regarding their working conditions.
Unfortunately for these two workers, Tesla could not care less about the NLRB. On March 25, 2021, the board ordered Tesla to reinstate Richard Ortiz, a Tesla worker who was trying to unionize Fremont. NLRB also ordered Elon Musk to erase a 2018 tweet that asked: “Why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” The tweet is still online. That said, the complaint is probably just a preparation for a federal lawsuit.
According to Bloomberg, the two former Tesla employees hired the same San Francisco law firm that is now representing the nine former SpaceX workers. We do not know which law firm it is, possibly because it did not respond to a request for comments.
If this lawsuit proceeds, it will join several others related to labor conditions against the EV maker. Tesla was convicted of being unable to prevent racism in two cases, one of them filed by Melvin Berry in an arbitration court and the other by Owen Diaz in a federal court. The company paid Berry $1 million and will have a new jury to decide how much it will have to pay Diaz. The last decision would make Tesla $136.9 million poorer. The company was facing ten other lawsuits about the same subject the last time we checked.
In September, the Rolling Stones managed to talk to five women who were suing Tesla for suffering sexual harassment on its premises. The stories of Alisa Blickman, Alize Brown, Eden Mederos, Jessica Barraza, and Samira Sheppard are horrifying. A former SpaceX engineer shared similar stories, which shows that Elon Musk’s management is the common link between them. With Twitter, Boring Company, and Neuralink also on his list, it is fair to ask when they will present similar cases.
The two former Tesla employees filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). They claim that what Tesla did violates U.S. federal labor laws. They forbid companies from doing anything against workers who take collective actions regarding their working conditions.
Unfortunately for these two workers, Tesla could not care less about the NLRB. On March 25, 2021, the board ordered Tesla to reinstate Richard Ortiz, a Tesla worker who was trying to unionize Fremont. NLRB also ordered Elon Musk to erase a 2018 tweet that asked: “Why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” The tweet is still online. That said, the complaint is probably just a preparation for a federal lawsuit.
According to Bloomberg, the two former Tesla employees hired the same San Francisco law firm that is now representing the nine former SpaceX workers. We do not know which law firm it is, possibly because it did not respond to a request for comments.
If this lawsuit proceeds, it will join several others related to labor conditions against the EV maker. Tesla was convicted of being unable to prevent racism in two cases, one of them filed by Melvin Berry in an arbitration court and the other by Owen Diaz in a federal court. The company paid Berry $1 million and will have a new jury to decide how much it will have to pay Diaz. The last decision would make Tesla $136.9 million poorer. The company was facing ten other lawsuits about the same subject the last time we checked.
In September, the Rolling Stones managed to talk to five women who were suing Tesla for suffering sexual harassment on its premises. The stories of Alisa Blickman, Alize Brown, Eden Mederos, Jessica Barraza, and Samira Sheppard are horrifying. A former SpaceX engineer shared similar stories, which shows that Elon Musk’s management is the common link between them. With Twitter, Boring Company, and Neuralink also on his list, it is fair to ask when they will present similar cases.
Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 21, 2018
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