A former Tesla employee who worked at the company for nearly five years says he was sacked over the phone by his manager while on vacation, according to a sworn declaration filed in a Texas court.
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The declaration, seen by Insider, was made by Roosevelt Jointer, who says 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 that I was going to be let go effectively immediately,” Jointer, of Reno, Nevada, says in the declaration, which was filed in court Tuesday.
Jointer added: “I did not receive any advance notice that I would be losing my job. Up to that point, no one at Tesla ever raised any issues with me regarding my performance.”
He continued: “During this call, my manager told me that I would receive a severance offer over an e-mail and urged me to sign a separation agreement to get a severance payment of one week’s salary.”
He added: “I did not sign the agreement.”
The separation agreement, dated June 11, which was also filed in court, shows Jointer was offered one week’s severance and two months of health insurance.
Jointer’s declaration was included as evidence in a motion filed by two other former Tesla employees, John Lynch and Daxton Hartfield, who are suing Tesla over how it conducted recent companywide layoffs.
One declaration is from former Tesla staffer Quishon Walker, who told Insider he was terminated by Tesla with “no warning.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in late May that the company would be cutting jobs, saying he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. Musk said 10% of salaried staff positions would be cut in the coming months, totaling about 3% of the company’s workforce.
Lynch and Daxton filed a plea Tuesday containing sworn declarations from six former Tesla employees, including Jointer, who were laid off in the recent cuts.
They have asked the court to block Tesla from securing separation agreements with laid-off staff, arguing that by offering only one or two weeks’ severance, Tesla is in violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and the company should provide staff with 60 days’ pay plus benefits.
The separation agreements also contain a clause that prevents laid-off staff from bringing legal claims against Tesla, per the plea.
“If left unchecked, Tesla may succeed in cutting off the rights of thousands of potential class members … without them even knowing about this case and their rights,” the plea says.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Insider was not immediately able to contact Jointer, and attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit didn’t immediately respond when contacted by Insider outside of usual US working hours.
