Tesla Reportedly Used Cheap Foreign Labor To Work On Its Factories

A new report reveals how imported foreign labor was used to work on Tesla’s factories inside the United States. It reveals that a German company was contracted by Tesla to expand its facilities and that the company exploited loopholes in the visa system to bring in cheap labor from Eastern Europe. Workers were reportedly paid as little as $5 an hour as opposed to their American counterparts who earn as much as $52 per hour.

The report focuses on the story of one Gregor Lesnik, an electrician from Slovenia, who was hired by the German contractor Eisenmann to work on a Tesla paint shop in March last year.

Lesnik was one of the 140 foreign workers that were hired by the contractor to work on Tesla facilities, they were brought into the United States on B1/B2 nonimmigrant visas for tourism and business. Lesnik’s visa mentioned that he would be supervising other workers but instead he was carrying out hands-on labor that’s not covered by his visa.

Lesnik suffered multiple injuries on the job after falling three stories and has since filed a lawsuit against his employers, claiming that the company has violated employment and wage laws. Lesnik mentions in the lawsuit that he worked up to ten hours a day, six days a week without receiving any overtime.

Tesla did acknowledge that “sometimes” it hires third party contractors for short-term construction but maintains that it has nothing to do with Lesnik’s contract. CEO Elon Musk responded to the report over Twitter by saying: “Only heard about this today. Sounds like the wrong thing happened on many levels. Will investigate and make it right.”

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation
Tags: elon musk, Tesla