The National Labor Relations Board on Thursday upheld a 2019 decision that Tesla had illegally dismissed a worker involved in the union organization and that the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, had illegally threatened workers with the loss of stock options if they unionized.
The council decided that the worker, Richard Ortiz, should be reinstated with the late payment, and that Musk should delete his tweet. The company is also expected to issue a notice committing itself not to violate labor laws in the future and announcing that it will take mandatory corrective measures.
Mr. Ortiz was visibly involved in the union organization, including distributing leaflets in the company’s factory parking lot in Fremont, California, before being fired in October 2017. The company said it fired him because he posted screenshots of employees . profiles on an internal Facebook platform. An administrative law judge decided it was retaliation for his organizational efforts.
The judge also found that the company had illegally issued a warning to another employee for taking the images and sending them to Ortiz, a decision the board maintained on Thursday as well.
In May 2018, Mr. Musk posted his tweet, which included the clause, “why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing? Both the judge and the council considered the post an illegal attempt to coerce employees with a threat of compensation.
The council went beyond the judge’s previous decision on some issues, finding that Tesla’s confidentiality agreement, which required employees to sign, prohibited them from illegally speaking to the media about Tesla without authorization, even if the material was public. The decision on Thursday requires the company to change its agreement.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.