Tesla recently laid off 10 percent of its workers. Now, we’re learning about the money they’re getting after losing their jobs. Elon Musk, the CEO, sent an email late at night on April 14 to the affected workers. He said they were fired right away and couldn’t access Tesla’s systems anymore. Musk also said they would find out about their severance pay “within 48 hours.”
According to Business Insider, Tesla is offering workers in Austin, Texas, two months of pay after they’re laid off. This means they’ll be paid until June 14. Five former workers confirmed this. It seems the amount of money isn’t based on how long someone worked at Tesla. So, whether they worked there for a few months or several years, they get the same amount of pay. Tough, right? This is why some people say workers need a union.
After being laid off, Tesla workers have either 30 days or 3 months to use their vested stock options. They also get paid for any unused paid time off (PTO) they had.
Interestingly, the two months of pay seems to just dodge a law called the WARN Act. This law says companies with over 100 employees must give a 60-day notice before a big layoff. But Tesla’s offer might avoid penalties if they didn’t give enough notice.
Tesla also says they’ll pay for COBRA health insurance for two months for workers who had it through the company.
But there are conditions to the severance pay. Laid-off workers have to sign a contract agreeing not to sue Tesla or share its secrets. They also can’t say bad things about Tesla publicly. Business Insider says this is pretty normal for severance deals.
Workers have five days to sign the agreement, and then they’ll get paid for 45 days after they’re laid off.
It’s worth noting that Tesla first gave the wrong information about severance to its workers. Musk even apologized for the mistake. That’s something new!
