Tesla sued by former employees over mass layoff, denied pay

Two former Tesla employees filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s electric car company, claiming that the employer breached federal law by laying off hundreds of workers on short notice.

On June 2, Musk sent an internal email to executives indicating that, due to his “super bad feeling” about the economy, the company need to fire 10% of its workforce.

In the days following the note, the two workers say they were fired from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield said their terminations were among at least 500 others from the business’ Nevada location.

What American laws are alleged to have been broken?

The lawsuit, filed in Texas, alleges that Tesla violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. This act requires employers to inform employees at least 60 calendar days before closing a plant or laying off 50 or more people from same location. The claim says that “zero days advance notice” was given.

Lynch and Hartsfield are seeking 60 days’ worth of pay and benefits as compensation. Their lawsuit is also pushing for class action status that would cover workers fired by Tesla in May and June without proper notice.

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Employees at other Tesla locations, such as Austin, San Francisco and Singapore, argue that they, too, were laid off shortly after Musk’s email hit inboxes.

Rights for Canadian Tesla employees

Employees working for Tesla in Canada (in provinces like Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia) must be given proper notice of their termination. Unlike workers in the United States, Canadian employees can receive severance payments instead of advance notice of their layoff.

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• Severance pay for Tesla employees
• SpaceX employees fired after open letter against Elon Musk

How much should I get?

The amount of advance notice or severance pay an employee is entitled to varies from person to person, and is formed by looking at different and unique aspects of an individual’s employment. Those factors can include their:

• Age
• Time spent with the company
• Position
• Pay
• Ability to find new work
• Bonus entitlements
• Benefits
• Overtime pay
• Stock options

We developed the Pocket Employment Lawyer, an online tool that connects you to the Severance Pay Calculator. The calculator can quickly determine a range of compensation you may be owed when you lose your job.

You are owed a severance package, regardless of whether you were part of a mass layoff, or singled out from the crowd. The experienced employment lawyers at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP have represented non-unionized Tesla employees who lost their job and required compensation. Contact us today to find out how we can help.