A former Tesla employee who worked for the company for nearly five years said his boss fired him over the phone while he was on leave, according to an oath filed in a Texas court.
The ad, seen by Insider, came from Roosevelt Guinter, who said he worked as a maintenance supervisor at Tesla from September 2017 until he was fired last month.
“While I was on vacation, my manager called me on June 10, 2022 and told me I would be abandoned immediately,” Guinter, of Reno, Nevada, said in the announcement, which was filed in court on Tuesday.
Guinter added, “I received no advance notice that I was going to lose my job. Up until that point, no one at Tesla had raised any issues with me regarding my performance.”
He continued, “During this call, my manager told me that I would receive an offer of termination via email and urged me to sign a severance agreement for a week’s salary severance pay.”
“I did not sign the agreement,” he added.
The separation agreement, dated June 11, which was also filed in court, shows that he was offered a termination of service for one week and two months of health insurance.
Jointer’s announcement was included as evidence in a proposal by two other former Tesla employees, John Lynch and Daxton Hartfield, who are suing Tesla over how it conducted its recent company-wide layoffs.
One statement from Kishon Walker, a former Tesla employee, who told Insider he was terminated by Tesla “without warning.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in late May that the company would be eliminating jobs, saying he had a “very bad feeling” about the economy. Musk said 10% of employee positions will be paid in the coming months, a total of about 3% of the company’s workforce.
Lynch and Daxton filed a petition Tuesday containing sworn statements from six former Tesla employees, including Jointer, who were laid off in recent cuts.
They have asked the court to prevent Tesla from securing severance agreements with laid-off employees, arguing that by offering only one or two severances, Tesla is violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice Act, and the company must provide employees with 60 days’ wages plus benefits.
The dismissal agreements also contain a clause that prevents laid-off employees from filing legal claims against Tesla, according to the appeal.
“If left unchecked, Tesla may succeed in cutting off the rights of thousands of potential class members… without even knowing about the issue and their rights,” the petition says.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an Insider’s request for comment.
Insider was unable to contact Guinter immediately, and the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit did not immediately respond when Insider contacted them outside of normal US business hours.
Are you a Tesla worker affected by the recent layoffs? Contact this reporter at ihamilton@insider.com or iahamilton@protonmail.com. Always use a non-work email.
