The lawsuit was filed late Sunday in Texas by two workers
who said they were terminated from Tesla's gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nevada
in June. According to the suit, more than 500 employees were terminated at the
Nevada factory.
The workers allege the company failed to adhere to federal
laws on mass layoffs that require a 60-day notification period under the Worker
Adjustment and Retraining Notification 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
advance notice.
"Tesla has simply notified the employees that their
terminations would be effective immediately," the complaint said.
Tesla, which has not commented on numbers of layoffs, did
not immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit.
Musk, the world's richest person, said earlier this month he
had a "super bad feeling" about the economy and that Tesla needed to
cut staff by about 10 percent, according to an email seen by Reuters.
More than 20 people identifying themselves as Tesla
employees said they were laid off, let go or had positions terminated this
month, according to online postings and interviews with Reuters.
The action filed by John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield, who
were fired on June 10 and June 15, respectively, seeks pay and benefits for the
60-day notification period.
"It's pretty shocking that Tesla would just blatantly
violate federal labor law by laying off so many workers without providing the
required notice," Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney representing the
workers told Reuters.
“She said Tesla is offering some employees only one week of
severance, adding that she is preparing an emergency motion with a court to try
to block Tesla from trying to get releases from employees in exchange for just
one week of severance.
The suit was filed in the US District Court, Western
District of Texas. © Reuters