Court rules Elon Musk violated federal labor law with 2018 tweet
Tesla was also ordered to rehire a worker it illegally fired.
Elon Musk violated US labor law in 2018 when he tweeted that Tesla factory workers would forfeit stock options if they chose to unionize, a federal appeals court has heard. On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision spotted by Business Insider, upheld a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that found Musk made unlawful threats regarding employee compensation.
In May 2018, a Twitter user asked Musk about his stance on unions. "Nothing's stopping the Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do it tmrw if they wanted to," he tweeted in response. "But why pay union dues and give up stocks -options for nothing? Our safety record is 2x better than when the factory was UAW and everyone is already getting health care."
The tweet immediately caught the attention of labor activists, and in 2021 the NLRB, responding to a complaint from the United Auto Workers union, found that Musk had threatened employees. Tesla argued the tweet was Musk's way of pointing out that workers at other automakers aren't getting stock options. NLRB President Wilma Liebman saw things differently. "The employee is going to hear it like, 'If I vote to unionize, stock options won't be an option anymore,'" she told Bloomberg in 2018.
After reviewing the ruling, the Fifth Circuit Court sided with the NLRB. "Because stock options are part of Tesla's employee compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the because of the abandonment of stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is an implied threat to end stock options in retaliation for unionization," the panel wrote. /p>
The court ordered Musk to remove the tweet. As of this writing, the message still holds true. The Fifth Circuit court also upheld an NLRB order asking Tesla to reinstate Richard Ortiz, a worker the automaker fired for organizing employees at its Fremont, California plant.
Tesla was also ordered to rehire a worker it illegally fired.
Elon Musk violated US labor law in 2018 when he tweeted that Tesla factory workers would forfeit stock options if they chose to unionize, a federal appeals court has heard. On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision spotted by Business Insider, upheld a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that found Musk made unlawful threats regarding employee compensation.
In May 2018, a Twitter user asked Musk about his stance on unions. "Nothing's stopping the Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do it tmrw if they wanted to," he tweeted in response. "But why pay union dues and give up stocks -options for nothing? Our safety record is 2x better than when the factory was UAW and everyone is already getting health care."
The tweet immediately caught the attention of labor activists, and in 2021 the NLRB, responding to a complaint from the United Auto Workers union, found that Musk had threatened employees. Tesla argued the tweet was Musk's way of pointing out that workers at other automakers aren't getting stock options. NLRB President Wilma Liebman saw things differently. "The employee is going to hear it like, 'If I vote to unionize, stock options won't be an option anymore,'" she told Bloomberg in 2018.
After reviewing the ruling, the Fifth Circuit Court sided with the NLRB. "Because stock options are part of Tesla's employee compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the because of the abandonment of stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is an implied threat to end stock options in retaliation for unionization," the panel wrote. /p>
The court ordered Musk to remove the tweet. As of this writing, the message still holds true. The Fifth Circuit court also upheld an NLRB order asking Tesla to reinstate Richard Ortiz, a worker the automaker fired for organizing employees at its Fremont, California plant.
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