A US labour board has rejected allegations that Tesla unlawfully terminated employees involved in Autopilot software development at a New York facility. The complaint raised stated that the terminations were announced with the intention of quashing unionisation efforts.
Workers United alleged that Tesla terminated numerous employees from its Autopilot department shortly after the initiation of a union campaign earlier this year. Tesla countered the complaint, asserting that the dismissals were related to performance evaluations and had nothing to do with union-related activities.
On Friday, November 24, 2023, a regional official from the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) dismissed the complaint lodged in February. However, the labour board identified that Tesla broke two rules.
Firstly, Tesla was found to have an illicit rule regarding the acceptable use of technology in the workplace. Secondly, the company was accused of soliciting grievances from workers as a tactic to impede support for the union, as mentioned by NLRB spokeswoman Kayla Blado on Monday, November 27, 2023.
In April, a judge from NLRB determined that supervisors at a Tesla service centre in Florida unlawfully prevented workers from discussing topics such as pay and working conditions. Furthermore, employees were reportedly instructed not to voice their complaints to higher-level managers.
Earlier this month, a US appeals court overturned a National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) accused Tesla of violating federal labour law by prohibiting workers at its Fremont, California, assembly plant from donning UAW T-shirts.
The identical court is currently reviewing Tesla’s appeal of another NLRB decision, which asserted that CEO Elon Musk breached federal labour law by tweeting in 2018 that employees would forfeit stock options if they opted to join a union. Tesla has refuted any wrongdoing in these instances.