Two employees laid off by Tesla earlier this year have filed an emergency motion to stop the automaker from allegedly seeking separation agreements that offered them far less than is required by law.
The two workers were among the more than 500 that Tesla laid off from its factory in Sparks, Nevada in May and June, reports Reuters. They allege that, as part of that, they (and others) were asked to release the automaker of all claims in exchange for a severance of just one or two weeks’ pay and benefits.
The motion was filed in a Texas court and, if accurate, would mean that Tesla is trying to offer less than the minimum amount of severance as required by law to the workers it laid off. Indeed, the Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification (WARN) Act requires that companies give laid off workers 60 days of pay and benefits – more than four times as much as the automaker is allegedly attempting to offer according to the motion.
Read Also: Tesla Employees Sue Automaker For Being Laid Off Without Warning
“Employees who have lost their jobs are typically eager to get whatever additional pay that they can get and have no reason to know that they are entitled to more due to Tesla’s violations of the WARN Act,” the motion said. “In short, Tesla hopes to buy off these class members’ claims for pennies on the dollar.”
The two workers also filed a lawsuit in June alleging that Tesla violated the law by enacting a “mass layoff” without the requisite 60-days notice. In that case, the workers were seeking class-action status on behalf of the others who are in a similar situation.
Tesla has cut hundreds of jobs across its workforce of 100,000 people in recent months. This came shortly after an email was leaked in which Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he wanted to get rid of 10 percent of the company’s workforce. The CEO at first denied the report, but later confirmed it.
Tesla has struggled with worker relations and just this week it was reported that more than a dozen current and former Black employees are suing the company alleging racial abuse and harassment at its factories.
