Florida residents may be interested to learn that a former employee for Tesla recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the automaker. The former employee reportedly worked at the company as the Operations Associate Manager until he was terminated in October 2017.
Prior to his termination, the employee had raised concerns to supervisors and Telsa’s human resources department regarding another manager who he believed was stealing auto parts, including tires and wheels. He claimed that the theft of these particular auto parts could have potentially caused significant losses for the company’s customers.
According to the lawsuit, the management team and the Human Resources department ignored the employee’s complaints. Instead, the former employee claimed that the management team set out to ultimately terminate the employee. It was noted that prior to making the complaints, the employee had received positive performance feedback. A Tesla spokesperson made a statement noting that the claims did not make sense as the company would want to investigate potential workplace theft and not take retaliatory actions against someone who reported it. The former employee reportedly requested a jury trial.
Although it is against the law, companies may retaliate against employees who report incidents of theft, discrimination or harassment. In some cases, retaliation can come in the form of demoting an employee, changing his or her work hours or even a firing. If there is evidence that an employee was fired in retaliation, an attorney may file a lawsuit against the company while gathering evidence that bolster the allegations. Legal counsel could determine what types of compensation the employee could seek, which may include back pay and punitive damages.
