Workers File Complaint against Tesla's Austin Gigafactory

Austin, TX (WorkersCompensation.com) -- Workers at the Austin Tesla gigafactory filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor recently, alleging safety and wage violations at the electric car manufacturer's 2,500-acre facility.

In a letter from the Workers Defense Project, construction workers said they were forced to work in unsafe conditions, as well as told to use fake safety certifications while building the plant since its groundbreaking in 2020. Although the workers in the complaint were employed by third party contractors, Workers Defense Project attorneys said Tesla should have known about the safety violations. 

“Tesla was not – didn’t seem – interested in using their power to ensure that everyone was able to go home at the end of the day without injuries, with all the money that they’re owed in their pockets,” Hannah Alexander, a staff attorney for Workers Defense Project, told the Guardian. 

A worker identified as Victor, to prevent retaliation, said in the complaint that he was given a "fake, digital OSHA 10 safety certificate" in order to begin working at the plant. Later, he said, he was given a "fake, digital OSHA 30 certificate" despite not going through the training. 

In an interview with the Guardian, Victor said the working conditions at the plant were dangerous. In one instance, workers were told to work on the factory's metal roof at night with no lights. In another example, Victor said workers had to work on top of turbines blowing smoke without protective masks. Victor, a supervisor for the company, said he and his team were also expected one time to work on a flooded floor of the building, with live wiring in the building and cords in the water. 

“Every day, there was a safety issue,” he told the Guardian. 

Other workers alleged in a separate letter that they weren't paid for the work they did, or for the overtime they incurred. Some workers said they worked over Thanksgiving in 2021, but never received the double-pay bonuses they were promised. Others said did not receive any pay for the work they performed. 

“Nobody deserves what happened in the gigafactory to happen to them, or their family members, or whomever,” Victor, a worker who asked the Guardian to withhold his last name out of fear of retaliation, said in an exclusive interview about working conditions, adding: “I don’t think it was humane.” 

This is not the first time that Musk’s car company has been linked to safety violations. 

Between 2014 and 2018, OSHA's database shows, Tesla received more than $236,000 in proposed penalties for more than 50 safety violations. Since 2019, the company has been cited 29 more times resulting in $393,000 in proposed penalties. 

An analysis of 14 other U.S. car and truck manufacturers - including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Stellantis, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Kia, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz - by Forbes shows they have a total of 21 safety violations with proposed penalties of $148,488 OSHA's database shows. 

Tesla's Fremont, Cal. facility employs about 15,000. Between 2014 and 2018, the company was investigated 24 times, which resulted in 54 violations and $236,730 in proposed penalties. In one case, a worker was hit by a forklift in the recycling area resulting in his pelvic bone being fractured. OSHA proposed a $26,075 penalty for the incident. In another incident a rear hatch door dropped onto a worker who was caulking the trunk. The worker later claimed he was denied adequate medical care by Tesla's medical clinic. Another worker's glove was caught in a torque gun, severing their finger tip. 

In comparison, the Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky., employs about 8,000 workers. That plant saw 13 investigations over the same period, resulting in four violations and $0 in proposed penalties. The plant with the highest number of violations, and penalties, was the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn. That plant also employs about 8,000 workers. Over the 2014-2018 time frame, the plant was investigated 8 times, and cited for five violations, with proposed penalties of $33,700.

Juan Rodriguez, spokesman for the DOL, told the Texas Observer, the allegations will be taken seriously. 

“The Wage and Hour Division takes allegations of workers’ rights abuses very seriously, and the division will investigate the alleged violations," he said. "The division works closely with groups like the Workers Defense Project to promote and ensure that employers comply with federal labor regulations that protect the nation’s workers.”

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