Elon Musk ordered to delete tweet threatening pro-union employees

A federal appeals court docket dominated Friday that Elon Musk violated federal labor legal guidelines when he tweeted that staff who joined a union wouldn’t obtain inventory choices.

The fifth Circuit Appeals Court stated the National Labor Relations Board can implement its order and make Mr. Musk delete the almost five-year-old tweet. 

“Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?” Mr. Musk tweeted. 

A federal administrative decide dominated in opposition to Tesla in 2019, discovering that the tweet violated labor legal guidelines. The firm appealed within the U.S. Court of Appeals which dominated in opposition to them final week. 

The court docket discovered that the tweet, which was made in response to a union drive at a Fremont, California, Tesla plant, constituted a risk to staff.

A panel of three judges dominated unanimously on Friday to dismiss the attraction submitted by Tesla.

“Because stock options are part of Tesla’s employees’ compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the cause of giving up stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB‘s conclusion that the tweet is as an implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization,” the ruling reads.

The court docket additionally dominated that Tesla unlawfully terminated worker Richard Ortiz, and stated that the NLRB can implement its order for the corporate to rehire him with again pay. 

Tesla testified that it fired Mr. Ortiz in 2017 after discovering he had lied throughout an investigation into worker misconduct. 

Mr. Ortiz posted screenshots of two Tesla worker Workday profiles to a personal pro-union Facebook group, criticizing the workers for testifying earlier than the California Legislature in opposition to pro-union laws. Mr. Ortiz obtained the screenshots from one other worker however advised investigators he couldn’t keep in mind the place he received them from. 

The court docket discovered that Tesla had no rule in opposition to sharing screenshots of Workday profiles and subsequently created one in response to Mr. Ortiz’ union exercise.

“Ortiz was fired for lying about protected union activity and not related to his job performance or Tesla’s legitimate business interests or workplace rules,” the ruling reads. “And that union animus motivated —at least in part — the complaint, investigation and decision to terminate Ortiz.”

Tesla has since been ordered to remove the rule. 

While the UAW and Mr. Ortiz have been happy with the choice, they lamented the time it took.

“While we celebrate the justice in today’s ruling, it also highlights our broken US labor law. Here is a company that clearly broke the law and yet it is several years down the road before these workers have achieved a modicum of justice,” UAW President Shawn Fain stated in an announcement. 

Tesla’s Fremont plant has been fraught with accusations of union-busting exercise for years. The NLRB discovered that staff have been threatened with termination for taking part in union actions, prohibited from talking with the media about their jobs, topic to interrogation about union involvement and prohibited from distributing union leaflets with out approval.