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Federal Judge Denied Tesla motion to dismiss the charges in a lawsuit alleging that she had abused foreign workers. This means that the builder will have to defend himself at trial against allegations that foreign workers at his Fremont factory would have worked as a team, in violation of forced labor laws and threatened with eviction if they reported injury.
The decision comes just days after Elon Musk agreed to resign from his position as chairman (while remaining its chief executive), to settle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Last week, the SEC filed a complaint with a federal district court accusing Musk of fraud related to his tweets in August, in which he planned to privatize Tesla at $ 420 a share.
In a ruling on Monday, Justice Lucy Koh of the California Northern District Court in San José dismissed five of the seven lawsuits in the Lesnik v. Eisenmann SE (case number 5: 16-cv-01120) and dismissed the applications as inadmissible. subcontractors Tesla Eisenmann Corp and ISM Vuzem.
Other vehicle manufacturers (Mercedes-Benz, Deere, REHAU, LaX, Volkswagen, Dicastal and BMW) were also named as defendants, but they were fired as they were not included in the two applications that will make the # 39, subject of a lawsuit.
The class action was filed in 2016 by Gregor Lesnik of Slovenia and Stjepan Papes of Croatia on behalf of foreign workers with B-1 visas. Lesnik and Popes were hired by ISM Vuzem and sent to the United States to work in the Tesla facilities in Fremont. The lawsuit alleges that foreign workers were paid well below the minimum wage and worked "at extreme hours".
Lesnik claims that he usually worked 12 hours a day and never less than 10 hours, more than 80 hours a week, or more than 240 hours a month, but that he only received one day's work. every two weeks, in violation of the forced labor laws.
When Lesnik was too ill to work or reported an employment injury, the lawsuit alleges that Vuzem threatened to withhold his salary or the benefits related to visa and immigration. Koh rejected arguments that Tesla and Eisenmann are not responsible for the abuses committed by ISM Vuzem because they have benefited financially.
The Tesla factory in Fremont was inspected last year as a result of complaints from employee Jose Moran, which was denied by CEO Elon Musk in an email sent to staff. Earlier this year, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health announced that it would review plant conditions after Reveal reported that Tesla had not reported work-related injuries, contrary to legislation Federal and American (the charges were also dismissed).
While labor and safety practices were criticized, other workers also filed several lawsuits for racially motivated discrimination and harassment at the Fremont plant.
TechCrunch has contacted Tesla, Eisenmann and ISM Vuzem for comments.
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