Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Tesla has received requests from the Justice Department for documents related to its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” features, according to a regulatory filing. (AP Photo/ Benjamin Fanjoy, File)
A 2018 Twitter post by Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they decided to be represented by a union, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a March 2021 order by the National Labor Relations Board, which ordered that the tweet be deleted. The case arose from United Auto Workers' organizing efforts at a Tesla facility in Fremont, California.
Also upheld was the board's order that Tesla reinstate and provide back pay to an employee who was fired for union-organizing activity.
Musk tweeted on May 20, 2018: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when plant was UAW & everybody already gets healthcare.”
The ruling said that "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.”
Neither Tesla nor the UAW has responded to emailed requests for comment Friday afternoon.
Smoke that filled the cabin of a Delta flight as it took off from the Atlanta airport in February was so thick the led flight attendant had trouble seeing past the first row of passengers and the pilots donned oxygen masks as a precaution.
Arjan Stephens, President of Nature's Path, discusses the company's origin, how it has evolved today and the interesting product that came from his wedding!
Small business reporter, Gene Marks, joins Cheddar to give analysis on how small businesses are tackling incoming tariffs and how it will affect the consumer.
Babylist CEO Natalie Gordon joins Cheddar to discuss how the website is helping new parents, how to make a registry and how secondhand options are available.
Biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe for $256 million, two months after the genetic testing company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
ReturnPro CEO Sender Shamiss to discuss how his company is changing the way we make returns and how Trump's tariffs are affecting the return business. Watch!
