Tech

Former Tesla workers have accused the company of not paying overtime or paid sick leave in a new lawsuit

A red Tesla outside a Tesla showroom.
Tesla is facing another lawsuit. JOHN THYS / Getty
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Tesla is in trouble — again.

Former employees accused the auto company of violating labor laws in a proposed class action lawsuit filed in federal court in California on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Two workers previously employed at Tesla's assembly plant in Fremont are demanding over $5 million in damages in the proposed civil suit, which they hope will represent thousands of Tesla employees.

The unnamed employees accuse the company of failing to pay overtime and sick time, failing to reimburse employees for work expenses, failing to provide adequate breaks, and failing to give employees written quotes of their expected output, according to Reuters.

The lawsuit comes as Tesla faces racial harassment and discrimination claims in another complaint brought against the company by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That complaint says the company allowed harassment against Black workers in its California plants.

The company is also set to go to trial next week over a lawsuit brought by the family of an Apple engineer who died after his Model X crashed while in autopilot.

Wei "Walter" Huang's family claims in the lawsuit that the autopilot design is defective and responsible for Huang's death. Tesla plans to call a second Apple engineer as a witness in the trial to testify that Huang was playing a game on his phone when the car crashed, according to court records.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on Friday.

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Katie Balevic was a weekend reporter on the trending team. Her coverage at Business Insider focused on guaranteed basic income, Meta, and tech industry executives. She also enjoyed covering breaking news, politics, and the court system.Before joining BI, Katie was a freelancer for Austonia and The US Sun, as well as an intern at NBC and the US Capitol. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a degree in journalism, a degree in government, and a minor in Russian language. Some of her favorite stories include: 
Kenneth Niemeyer was a reporter on Business Insider's trending team. Kenneth previously worked on BI's investigations desk.