(Reuters)-Tesla, an electric vehicle company led by billionaire Elon Musk, was accused in a lawsuit on Friday to favor visa carriers over Americans when making job decisions to be able to pay less.
According to a collective action proposal presented at the Federal Court of San Francisco, Tesla violates the Federal Civil Rights Law through its “systematic preference” to hire visa carriers and dismiss US citizens at disproportionate rates compared to visa carriers.
The action states that Tesla depends on patients with H-1B visas for qualified workers, including 2024, when it hired about 1,355 visa bearers and fired more than 6,000 workers in the country, “the vast majority” believed to be US citizens.
Free tool
XP Simulator
Learn in 1 minute how much your money can yield
Austin -based Tesla, Texas, did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
The action was filed by Software Engineer Scott Taub and Human Resources expert Sofia Brander, who said Tesla refused to hire them after knowing that they would not need sponsorship to work, an indication that they were US citizens.
Taub said he was dissuaded with looking for a job after being informed that he was “only for H1B” and was not invited to an interview for a second job. Brander said Tesla did not interview her for two jobs, although she was a hired employee twice.
Continues after advertising
“Although workers with visa represent only a fraction of the US labor market, Tesla prefers to hire these candidates rather than US citizens, as it can afford visa-dependent employees less than US employees who do the same work, a practice in the sector known as ‘salary theft’,” the complaint says.
This Friday’s complaint was a post of December 27, 2024 at the X of Musk, a naturalized American citizen who was born and created in South Africa and had a H-1B visa.
“The reason I am in the United States, along with so many important people who built Spacex, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that have made the United States strong, is because of the H1B,” Musk wrote.
Continues after advertising
It is unclear how the authors of the action plan to demonstrate Tesla’s supposed systemic discrimination in mass hiring and layoffs.
Daniel Kotchen, lawyer of the lawsuit, did not want to make additional comments.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for all US citizens who applied for jobs at Tesla in the United States and were not hired, or who worked for Tesla in the country and were fired.
