Tesla is facing a lawsuit alleging the company fired a man who requested disability accommodations.
What’s happening?
The claim, obtained and reported on by The Independent, was filed by Hans Kohls, a 36-year-old former technician at Tesla’s Texas Gigafactory.
Kohls, who is deaf, said his hearing aids would not function while he worked in the plant’s casting department, melting aluminum at 1,220 degrees Fahrenheit. Without properly working hearing aids, the suit alleges Kohls would be unable to hear alarms or safety alerts.
Kohls requested a transfer away from the “extreme heat and moisture” of that department but was instead fired. That left him and his pregnant wife without company-sponsored health insurance.
The suit alleges that Tesla never explored other possible safety measures for Kohls within the casting department, such as visual or vibrating alarms and alerts, and that it lied about other open positions within the company.
“The facts of this case are stark and troubling,” Kohls’ attorney, Andrew Rozynski, told The Independent. “… Instead of complying with the law, they fired him within nine days and told him he was being ‘medically separated.’”
Why is this concerning?
Even though its sales and market share have dipped, Tesla is still the most well-known automaker in the electric vehicle space. And any bad news for the company is likely to give more ground to the anti-EV crowd.
Despite what those critics say, the EV market is doing just fine — in fact, it’s breaking records.
Electric vehicles don’t create any heat-trapping tailpipe pollution, making them much cleaner than their gas-powered counterparts. Studies also show they’re cheaper to drive than gas-powered cars, so it’s no wonder many drivers are making the switch.
What’s next for Tesla?
This lawsuit is just one of many filed against the company in recent months.
A robotics technician sued Tesla for $51 million after an accident at a Fremont, California, factory that allegedly caused millions of dollars in medical bills. Another suit says that working conditions at that same campus featured sexual assaults, racial slurs, and violence.
Tesla’s vehicles have also been the subject of several complaints. Two suits allege that flawed door-handle design played a role in fatal Cybertruck crashes, while others accuse the company of misleading them about its self-driving technologies.
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