Tesla actually violated labor laws in Florida, US Labor Board rules

Tesla violated national labor laws by preventing employees at its Orlando, Florida, service center from discussing pay and bringing complaints over working conditions, a US labor judge ruled on Wednesday (PDF). The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year accused Tesla of misleading its employees about hiring, refraining from discussing suspensions and dismissals of employees.

Tesla has now been ordered by a judge to cease and desist from continuing to violate the labor law. As explained in an email to The Verge from NLRB press secretary Kayla Bledsoe, Tesla must post multilingual notices of the rule around the Orlando facility in areas where it would normally post notices. The automaker must mail it to all current employees and former employees of the facility who were actively employed there on or after December 13, 2021.

In 2021, some employees were silenced for wanting answers to the question of why new recruits were being paid more than they were. He was illegally ordered by his supervisors to follow the chain of command - he was barred from complaining to higher management about anything.

The situation reached its inflection point in January 2022, when an Orlando technician was suspended by his supervisors a day after emailing and scheduling with Tesla's VP of sales, service and delivery to discuss concerns . A supervisor claimed that the technician was threatening violence, which the technician denied.

Tesla has had several conflicts with the NLRB. In 2019, the automaker was found to have illegally retaliated against union-supporting workers. The situation was exacerbated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted anti-union sentiment in 2018. The NLRB also ruled that Tesla unlawfully withheld union swag, and it's currently assessing complaints that Tesla fired two California employees for discussing working conditions — as well as Allegations also that the automaker orchestrated an effort to organize Buffalo workers under the guise of layoffs.