Elon Musk’s mask is slipping these days, and it appears to be creating a contagious flurry of failure across his network of businesses.
The eccentric billionaire’s takeover of Twitter has been a rough one, certainly, as the $44 billion purchase was immediately followed by suggestions from Musk himself that the platform could soon be facing bankruptcy. Massive layoffs and crude cost-cutting measures soon followed, and and it left many wondering whether or not Musk’s “genius” was all an act.
Now, over at Tesla, it appears as though there is more trouble brewing.
Tesla’s accused of violating national labor laws by allegedly telling employees at its Orlando, Florida location not to talk about pay and working conditions, as first reported by Bloomberg. In a complaint filed in September, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regional director in Tampa claims Telsa “told employees not to complain to higher level managers about their pay or other conditions of employment” and said “not to discuss their pay with other persons.”
And that wasn’t all:
The complaint goes on to accuse Tesla of instructing employees not to discuss the hiring, suspension, or termination of employees with others. These incidents occurred from December 2021 to January 2022, the complaint alleges, and violates laws that prevent companies from “interfering with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of rights guaranteed” by the NLRB Act. In a statement to Bloomberg, NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado says a judge will hear the arguments laid out by the complaint during a February hearing.
Tesla has run afoul of the NLRB in the past as well, after the company banned employees from wearing union logos on their clothing.
