Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, greets as he arrives for a debate at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 9, 2020.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Tesla violated labor laws when he fired a union activist and when CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter in 2018: “Nothing to stop the Tesla team at our car plant from voting for the union. They could do it if they wanted to. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?”
Among other things, the federal agency has instructed Tesla to ask Musk to remove his offensive tweet and re-offer a job to the fired employee, Richard Ortiz. Tesla must also compensate Ortiz for the loss of revenue, profits and adverse tax consequences that resulted from his dismissal.
The employee was part of an “Fair Future at Tesla” organizing campaign. At the time of the campaign, Tesla said its business should remain union-free. But Musk’s public comments about his Twitter account, where he has tens of millions of followers, were seen as threatening. Tesla considers Elon Musk’s tweets to be the company’s official communication, as revealed in its financial files.
Tesla will also need to review a confidentiality agreement that gives employees as is natural. The company previously told employees that they were not allowed to speak to the media without written and explicit permission. However, national labor law “generally protects employees when they talk to the media about working conditions, labor disputes, or other terms and conditions of employment,” the NLRB noted.
The council also ordered Tesla to issue notices nationwide and hold a meeting (or series of meetings) at its main U.S. automobile plant in Fremont, to inform workers of their protected rights. At the meeting, Musk himself or a “board agent” in Musk’s presence will need to read this notice to workers, along with security guards, managers, and supervisors.
Bloomberg previously reported the decision and was confirmed by United Auto Workers, who filed the lawsuit. UAW said it was preparing a statement and Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
Thursday’s decision largely coincided with that of the September 2019 ruling of an administrative law judge, who had already studied the complaint. Tesla appealed until full board.
Read the full NLRB decision here and make it.
CNBC Michael Wayland has contributed to this report.