According to an email written to staff on Tuesday night and reviewed by Reuters, Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has ordered them to return to work or leave the firm.
“Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week,” the email said
“If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”
The validity of the email examined by Reuters was confirmed by two Tesla sources. A request for comment from Tesla was not returned.
One of Musk’s Twitter followers shared another email that Musk allegedly addressed to executives, requesting that they work at least 40 hours per week at the office or “depart”
“They should pretend to work somewhere else,” the billionaire, who has agreed to take Twitter Inc private in a $44 billion deal, remarked in reaction to this post. Musk himself was unavailable for comment.
In the face of a rise in coronavirus cases, some tech workers have been opposing efforts to get them back to work in California, which is home to one of Tesla’s factories and engineering headquarters.
Musk defied the county’s lockdown procedures to stop the spread of the coronavirus by reopening a Tesla facility in Fremont in May 2020.
According to Alameda County data collected by the legal information portal Plainsite, Tesla reported 440 cases at the factory from May to December 2020.
According to county records, Musk’s rocket company SpaceX reported 132 Covid-19 instances at its California headquarters last year.
Tesla has joined a growing list of corporations that have made it mandatory for employees to return to work.
To read our blog on “Tesla and other EV companies have requested federal funding for heavy-duty truck charging infrastructure,” click here.