Ex-employees sue Tesla for violating notice period

The US electric car maker Tesla is being defamed in the US state of Texas, on suspicion of mass layoffs without respecting the notice period.

Two former workers said they were fired in June at the Sparks Gigafactory without warning, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday. Accordingly, Tesla put more than 500 employees on the streets in June.

According to US labor law (the “Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice Act”), a 60-day notice period is required for such mass layoffs. “Tesla has only notified employees that their termination will be effective immediately,” the lawsuit reads. Former employees are pursuing a class action lawsuit. Tesla could not be reached for comment.

Former employees claim 60 days of wages and benefits. “It is absolutely appalling that Tesla is so flagrantly violating federal labor laws by firing so many workers without meeting the required deadline,” Attorney Shannon Lees Riordan, representing the plaintiffs, told Reuters.

Tesla offers some employees a severance pay equivalent to one week’s wages. So you’re setting up a contingency so the group can’t buy its way out with low severance pay. Tesla chief Elon Musk announced earlier this month that he would cut thousands of jobs at the electric car maker for fear of a recession.