Two Tesla workers claim they received termination notices after they took unpaid leave to guard against the coronavirus.
The Washington Post reported that the workers, Carlos Gabriel and Jessica Naro, had been employed at the reopened Fremont, California, plant.
Their termination notices came after Tesla’s Elon Musk had promised workers they could stay home if they felt uneasy and not be penalized, the Post said.
Both Gabriel and Naro say they provided evidence of their continuing correspondence with managers. Still, they said they received notices last week from the company citing their apparent failure to show up.
Naro said HR officials said she could come back, though she was prompted to offer a date of return, according to the newspaper.
But both believe they received the notifications for speaking up about concerns over working conditions at the plant.
About a half dozen unnamed employees spoke to the Post about those conditions. They claimed the company is failing to follow social distancing guidelines and lacks enforcement of rules concerning masks.
Employees are “hovering over each other,” said one worker.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk reopened the plant in May, defying county officials who ordered the company to stay closed. He had written a thank you note to employees for reopening the company’s only U.S. car plant.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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