Carmaker wants to ‘appeal to employees’ work ethic’ but move prompts outrage from plant’s union

The boss of a Tesla factory has defended the decision to send managers to the homes of workers on long-term sick leave.

In recent weeks, a director of Tesla’s electric car plant in Germany sent managers to check up on about two dozen employees who have continued to be paid while being on sick leave over the past nine months.

André Thierig, the plant’s manufacturing director, said the home visits were common practice in the industry and that the company simply wanted to “appeal to the employees’ work ethic”.

The move by Elon Musk’s US-headquartered carmaker has sparked outrage at the trade union IG Metall, which represents a proportion of the 12,000 workers at the Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory.

  • @[email protected]English
    7•6 hours ago

    The company had identified about 200 members of staff who were still being paid but had not turned up for work at all this year. “They submit a new sicknote from the doctor at least every six weeks,” he said.

    …then you don’t have to pay them. Company is on the hook for the first six weeks, then the health insurance, then disability, and you can generally terminate people after those six weeks.

    In short: You should fire management for gross incompetence. Can’t blame a worker for getting paid more because of company stupidity.

    Or, different angle: They really must be desperate for workers if they’re trying to retain those people. Paying well and having good working conditions would be a way to achieve that, yet another reason to fire management, up to and including Musk, for gross incompetence.