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.

  • JASN_DE@lemmy.worldEnglish
    52·
    2 months ago

    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”.

    Translation: Tesla wants to pressure people to return to work. What else would one expect from a company run by that assclown.

    • jacksilver@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      2 months ago

      It mentions these are people who have been on sick leave for over 9 months. I don’t know how sick leave works in Germany, but isn’t there a point where the leave has effectively turned permanent and the slack should be picked up by social services rather than a private business?

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.worldEnglish
        33·
        2 months ago

        6 weeks are the employer’s responsibility, after that the Krankenkasse takes over for 70% of wages for 72 weeks across 3 years.

        Maybe Tesla has some sort of perk of extended/unlimited sick leave?

        • jacksilver@lemmy.worldEnglish
          15·
          2 months ago

          Thanks for the answer. Sounds like they’re still well within the 72 weeks if I understand that correctly?

          As for everyone down voting me, I’m not sure what the issue is. I didn’t say people shouldn’t get sick leave, but that society should be responsible rather than an individual corporation (that also doesn’t mean corporations shouldn’t pay into social services).

          A reason for that is that if enough people are on payroll and not working it could end a business. The end result would be business attempting to avoid hiring anyone who could end up on long term sick leave.

          • Death_Equity@lemmy.worldEnglish
            12·
            2 months ago

            They are within the 3 years, at 9 months, so they would be getting 24 weeks of pay per year at 70% of wages.

            The Krankenkasse is a public health insurance fund that is funded by employee and employer matched contributions.

          • cmhe@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8·
            2 months ago

            I think you misunderstood, after 6 weeks Telsa doesn’t need to pay anything, the state ensurance pays them 70% of their wage.

            • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
              6·
              2 months ago

              Clarifying:

              The government pays them a reduced salary: 70% of their wage. Tesla does not pay the other 30 during that time

  • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
    43·
    2 months 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.

    • Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      2 months ago

      Is this German or US law because where I am it would be a high bar to be fired for anything other than downsizing while out on sick leave.

      Also the doctors note tells the company what they need to know. If they have doubts they can contact the doctor and verify the note.

      Also a lot of decent jobs will have extended sick leave, I have been out for a few months at a time and had company pay the entire time. They subtract whatever is paid in sick pay but you have your entire pay.

      • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        German law. To be more precise for a court to accept a company’s claim that continued employment would be an undue burden they want to see a) at least six weeks in a year b) negative prognosis, and c) how impactful the whole thing is for things like scheduling, that also depends on company size. Seniority also plays into it but noone at Tesla has any kind of seniority. That is, if healing from a burst appendix takes seven weeks no you don’t have a case because appendices don’t tend to burst twice, if your employee first breaks their leg and then goes base jumping again and breaks their arm and then does it again and breaks the other leg, different topic.

        Companies are of course not forced to terminate you and a car manufacturer might be well-advised to retain a hard to replace star engineer, a random replaceable accountant, not so much.

        IG Metall has a page about it. It also pays to pay your union dues because they all come with legal insurance. Thinking of it IG Metall might have the second largest army of lawyers in the world, right after Oracle.

    • jagermo@feddit.orgEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Not quite - if they are back one day and then have a sick note for something new the next day, the company has to pay again. Phrasing is a little vague, probably by design.

      However, it would be easier to offer a severance package or talk to then about leaving the company.

      • njm1314@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        2 months ago

        I don’t know why you think the phrase ‘haven’t shown up for work at all this year’ is vague. That seems pretty damn clear to me. Certainly it seems clearer than inventing some kind of complex scenario wherein you suggest they show once every 6 weeks based upon nothing.

  • recursive_recursion they/them@lemmy.caEnglish
    20·
    2 months ago

    This system poses a significantly high potential to be abused.

    If you’re someone that identifies as a woman who’s still working for Elon for some reason, you REALLY might want to consider looking for alternative jobs as a emergency escape option.

  • njm1314@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    God if one of my co-workers showed up at my house to Snoop on me I think I might shoot them.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOPEnglish
    16·
    2 months ago

    As of October 2023, according to Brandenburg’s Minister of Health Ursula Nonnemacher, Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg employs 11,500 people. The labor union IG Metall stated more than 1,000 employees have jointly demanded improved working conditions in a first-time campaign at the Grünheide factory and numerous Tesla employees have complained about poor working conditions. The workers criticized the workload as “extreme” due to short cycle times, a lack of personnel and excessive production targets. Employees also pointed to serious deficiencies in health protection, which led to sickness rates of up to around 30 percent and a high number of work accidents. When the union put up stickers in 2023 that read, “Our health is more important than the next billion to Elon,” Tesla warned of disciplinary action that included termination without notice.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigafactory_Berlin-Brandenburg