American electric vehicle maker Tesla has been accused of mass layoffs without prior notice.
According to Reuters on the 20th local time, two people who were recently fired after working for about five years at a Tesla battery plant in Nevada, USA, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in the US on the 19th. U.S. law stipulates that if a single workplace fires more than 50 people at a time, 60 days’ notice must be given.
The plaintiff claims that Tesla gave notice of dismissal on the 10th and 15th of this month, respectively, and was fired immediately. It also claimed that Tesla had laid off more than 500 workers at the plant alone since last month.
Plaintiffs are demanding compensation equivalent to 60 days after the notice of dismissal. The plaintiff’s attorney criticized the company, saying, “Tesla was fired for ignoring the relevant law completely.”
Tesla has not commented on this.
The layoff comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently announced that it would halt all hiring and cut staff by about 10%.
Earlier on the 2nd, Musk sent an email to executives with the subject line ‘Global Recruitment Suspension’, saying that he had a “very bad feeling” about the U.S. economy and that he was going to fire them. On the 3rd, he also sent an email to his employees, saying that many areas were overworked and that they would reduce the number of full-time employees.
But under pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden, Musk changed his mind, saying that “while the overall headcount will increase, the number of full-time employees will not change significantly.”
