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Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

latimes.com

11–20 of 152 posts

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#11
> The woman from human resources opened the doors — those big heavy fire doors with the push bars. She led the way through an unlighted, windowless room, draped in plastic, smelling of paint. Cristina Balan grew nervous. “This doesn’t look like the way to Elon’s office,” she thought to herself. She was led, she said, through another door into a room where she saw two large men in security uniforms behind desks. They were ordered to wait outside.

"Sorry about the smell; forget what you saw on Dexter, sheet plastic doesn't always work, and sometimes we have to repaint, haha."

I wonder whether the theatrics was at all for intimidation, or just an accident of the combination of legitimate physical security policy, and of wanting a meeting room where other employees wouldn't see the commotion (which happened to be new office space being prepared).

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"showing how necessary labor unions are" Chicago is a great example of labor unions and how well they work out.

Only the biggest, nastiest unions were able to survive the purge.

The claim that unions are horrible may be true for some large, high profile unions, but what everyone seems to ignore are all the small, totally unknown unions that get shit done.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. That's not the only defense, this is example #25360432 showing how necessary labor unions are.

"showing how necessary labor unions are" Chicago is a great example of labor unions and how well they work out.

> Chicago is a great example of labor unions and how well they work out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#15
It sounds like the same toxic middle management which she, and others, took issue with was aware of her attempts to contact Musk and leaned on HR to have her removed.

Likely Musk got her communications and asked her management if there was any merit; and if he had indeed done this, it would be contradictory to his previous communication encouraging employees to go around their management.

If they needed to go around management then likely going through management is not the correct response.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#16

It’s nearly impossible to fight defamation like this. Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. The amount of power they have over your future is insane and in certain situations, like the one in the article, you basically have no recourse.

The article suggests she was fired because she asked for a meeting with Musk about floor mats after failing to get the proper response from the regular chain of command. In my experience, everywhere I worked had a chain of command and consistently stepping outside the chain of command and going over your managers heads rarely leads to good results.

From an article mentioned in the LA Times article

> She considered leaving Tesla, but fellow engineers convinced her to stay. “I promised them I [would] get to Elon one way or the other,” she wrote, “even if I [had to go] to the Supreme Court.”

I would understand from a corporate perspective Tesla wanting to remove this person. A company, especially one on the brink of bankruptcy as Tesla was in 2014 has to have a high degree of cohesion and minimal dissent from employees.

> Instead, Balan said, she was forced to resign, an event that launched a six-year legal journey leading to where she is today: about to face off against Tesla — on her own, without an attorney — in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

I can't understand how someone can be let go from a company and make it their life's work over the next 6 years to grieve and fight publicly. Right or wrong, it seems like an utterly destructive process on the personal level.

> Balan says her professional reputation suffered damage so severe she can’t find a company willing to hire her. “They tell me, ‘We’d like to hire you, but we can’t afford to be on Musk’s blacklist,’” she said.

Employers aversion to hiring Balan may have to do with her lawsuit, at least a little bit

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#17

It’s nearly impossible to fight defamation like this. Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. The amount of power they have over your future is insane and in certain situations, like the one in the article, you basically have no recourse.

Probably the biggest takeaway is, in jurisdictions that permit it, "record all your conversations at work, encrypt them, and hope you never need them."

She would be in a totally different situation if she had a tape of Tesla's AGC threatening her friends through their immigration status. That is straight up mafia tactics.

Brings to mind this case [1].

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-29388019

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#18
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"showing how necessary labor unions are" Chicago is a great example of labor unions and how well they work out.

Chicago is also a great example of democracy and how well it works out, along with Russia. Maybe don't make a place with massive corruption your example.

What the hell do you people think Chicago is? It's not 1929 anymore.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. That's not the only defense, this is example #25360432 showing how necessary labor unions are.

"showing how necessary labor unions are" Chicago is a great example of labor unions and how well they work out.

What are some other examples of how well they work out? Paid holiday? Days off? Working environments that weren't deathtraps? Sounds pretty good to me.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#20

It’s nearly impossible to fight defamation like this. Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. The amount of power they have over your future is insane and in certain situations, like the one in the article, you basically have no recourse.

>Only defense against it is to be as careful choosing your employer as possible. That's not the only defense, this is example #25360432 showing how necessary labor unions are.

Unions can be useful for industry specific protections or benefits. This would provide different protections specific to a type of work.

I think arbitration protections and restrictions on employment contracts to preserve employee rights should be handled through legislation since it should be universally applicable to all workers. This would remove the variance in protections from one union to another.

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