Federal labor officials have filed a complaint against Tesla accusing it of violating workers' rights
Tesla will have to submit an answer to the charges on or before September 14 and appear at a hearing before an NLRB administrative law judge in Oakland, California, that will begin November 14.
The Union Auto Workers, a labor union, and three Tesla employees submitted separate complaints in April claiming the company had coerced employees trying to aid a unionization effort into silence. The NLRB said it has found merit to the charges and filed them into one official complaint.
The complaint says Tesla forced employees to sign a restrictive confidentiality agreement that prevented them from organizing or discussing their work conditions. It also claims some Tesla security guards and human-resources employees intimidated factory workers who were trying to pass out leaflets regarding the union organizing efforts and asked them to leave the premises.
Workers at Tesla's Fremont factory have been calling for a union since the the beginning of this year. Those part of the union effort say they regularly face excessive mandatory overtime and dangerous work conditions.
"These allegations, which have been filed by the same contingent of union organizers who have been so outspoken with media, are entirely without merit," a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement. "We will obviously be responding as part of the NLRB process."