When an employer does a mass layoff, it has to comply with the WARN Act. The WARN Act requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide at least 60 calendar days advance written notice of a plant closing and mass layoff affecting 50 or more employees at a single site of employment.
Tesla claims to have laid off 10 percent of its global workforce, and the word is it did so without complying with the WARN Act. If this is true, most laid off Tesla employees in the United States, such as those fired from the Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, can recover a penalty equal to 60 days of wages.
Lawsuits have already been filed to recover the penalty of 60 days of wages on behalf of all laid off Tesla employees in the United States. The likely problem with these class action lawsuits is that the laid off Tesla employees likely signed an arbitration agreement, which would preclude them from filing or maintaining a class action. In other words, if any laid off Tesla employees want to recover the penalty of 60 days of wages for the WARN Act violation, they likely will have to do so in their own arbitration against Tesla.
Strauss & Strauss, APC has handled many mass arbitration cases, where we represent many, many employees in individual arbitrations against a single employer. If you want to recover your 60 days of wages for a WARN Act violation, whether against Tesla or any other employer, contact us immediately. We provide free consultations and will happily discuss your options with you.