Tesla Violated Labor Laws by Silencing Workers in Florida: NLRB

A Tesla showroom in Corte Madera, California.Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Supervisors at a Tesla service center in Florida have reportedly violated U.S. labor laws by silencing employees, according to Reuters. Official U.S. labor board findings showed that employees were told not to discuss pay and other working conditions with each other, and they were told not to bring complaints to higher levels of management.

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Reuters reports that the NLRB found that managers at the Orlando repair shop illegally silenced workers in 2021. It was around that time that more tenured employees complained that new hires were being paid more money. NLRB Administrative Law Judge Michael Rosas ordered Tesla to cease and desist from violating workers’ rights. The judge also ordered the shop to post notice of the violations in the service center and email it to employees.

The report says that in late 2021 employees were made aware that new hires at the collision center were being paid more per hour than existing employees. A number of workers reportedly complained — including a technician who contacted a Tesla vice president and had his complaint forwarded to the company’s HR head.

After that, supervisors at the service center held a meeting where they told the facility’s 25 employees not to discuss what they were being paid and not to talk about other working conditions. They were also reportedly told not to file complaints with higher levels of management. The tech who sent that complaint to upper management was fired a few weeks later, and in 2022 he filed a complaint against Tesla with the NLRB.

Judge Rosas said that Tesla’s attempts to silence its employees violated their fundamental right under U.S. labor law to get together and advocate for better working conditions.

According to Reuters, this is just the latest loss for Tesla at the NLRB. The automaker also faces lawsuits that allege widespread race and sex discrimination at its assembly plants. On top of that, a U.S. appeals court also recently upheld an NLRB ruling against Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It reportedly said he broke the law by tweeting that employees would lose stock options if they joined a union. Oh, and Tesla is also appealing a separate NLRB decision that said it was unlawfully barring factory workers from wearing union t-shirts.