Tesla and Elon Musk broke the law in labor dispute, judge rules

In 2017, Tesla violated the National Labor Relations Act several times, Bloomberg reports, by threatening employees and retaliating against them, an administrative judge ruled today in California. Also, a May 2018 Elon Musk tweet — where Musk said that joining a union meant giving up Tesla stock options — was also illegal, the judge found.

Tesla fired one union supporter; the judge’s order says this person should be reinstated with back pay. Another pro-union employee should have a warning rescinded. And Musk must be present at a meeting at the Tesla plant in Fremont, California where he or someone with the labor board reads aloud a notice to employees that Tesla broke the law.

The finding may be a warning to the tech industry at large. Though Silicon Valley is historically anti-union, more tech company employees have been trying to organize. Amazon has shown employees an anti-union training video, for instance, as part of its battle against the Teamsters, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; warehouse workers struck on Prime Day this year.

Tesla could appeal the ruling to the NLRB’s five presidential appointees, something even the judge said was likely. (“This will be appealed no matter what I decide,” the judge said, according to Bloomberg.) If it’s considered, that appeal may be decided by three appointees or the full board, depending on how difficult the case is. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.