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Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

latimes.com

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Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#71

Post by marvin »

laviamo wrote: post #48
gamblor956 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large contingent of pro-Tesla readers on HN that cannot abide by any criticism of Tesla. Articles critical of Tesla always get flagged, and most of the time dang unflags them, especially if they're from newspapers like LAT.

But what's their point? Are those odd TSLA shareholders?

Most who claim that HN has a rabid and irrational pro-Tesla cult must have missed the last seven years of incredibly critical commentary. I started noticing in 2015. Maybe I'll put together a montage one day. The claims of a pro-Tesla cult are certainly more widespread than uncritical fanboyism.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#72

Post by jtbayly »

endymi0n wrote: post #70
giantg2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typical CEO double speak. Senior management at my company says similar things. Then if you look at the HR policy you find the fine print that greatly restricts what was said. I had a department head tell us his door is always open and to contact him about stuff (company policy supports the open door policy). I took him up on it. When I showed up, he had another manager there in addition to himself (it was supposed to…

To give you an executive's perspective on this one: I'm saying the same to my employees (and I mean it). But there are two types of ways this happens in reality: Case 1: An actual smart and caring employee bypasses the chain to give me evidence of a manager not acting in the companys interest. Usually that's not the first indication of such a thing and listening around reaffirms the conclusion quickly. The manager is…

Most cases, sure. But did you see the evidence in the article about her reputation at work? She was quite obviously an appreciated employee all around.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#73

Post by didibus »

john_moscow wrote: post #27

So, let's try to be objective about this. Tesla's viewpoint is that Cristina had an internal conflict with other managers regarding the choice of one of the suppliers [0]: > For example, Ms. Balan was unhappy with a particular supplier that was selected by an internal group of subject matter experts who extensively studied the issue. She took it upon herself to find an alternative supplier that [...] She herself conf…

Did we read the same thing? She was trying to escalate to upper management that she saw some issues with suppliers, which were possibly due to people choosing their friends as supplier instead of choosing the best supplier, and also some issue with floor mats that could be a safety concern. And they fired her for that.

I don't know what else there is to spin? It looks to me she cared too much about doing a good job and tried to mingle with a manager chain that cared more about themselves.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#74

Post by chimen »

GoToRO wrote: post #68

Good engineers must learn that while they spent the time learning their skills, other people spent that time learning how to steal others’ people work. If you are really good, you must start your own company. Much harder, I know.

And a good engineer usually does not make a good salesperson. Starting a company does not make a good engineer better nor does it guarantee a better path in one's career. On the contrary I would dare say.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#75

Post by jtbayly »

shuntress wrote: post #66
pbreit wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can they build in a mechanism to mitigate baseless flagging?

"most of the time dang unflags them" is that mechanism. If I found a reliable way to automate the recognition of bad-faith user interactions I would sell it to google and retire before bringing it to HN. edit: Also, apparently, users can "vouch" for posts which presumably is just the inverse of flagging a post.

You can vouch for a comment, but not a post. (Except by emailing dang.)

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#76

Post by harlanji »

Threeve303 wrote: post #2

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.

Very true. I unwisely chose an employer and my life has been increasingly harsh and lately scary, and the snowball of problems grows and rolls down the hill. OpenTable, don’t work or them.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#77

Post by benjohnson »

stefan_ wrote: post #9

Why on earth would Tesla defaming her on some news site after her resignation be required to go to arbitration? Not only does the timeline not fit, it isn't even an employment contract matter.

"To encourage the others" that may be harbouring non-Tesla approved thoughts.

http://wordhistories.net/2016/10/22/pour-encourager-les-autr...

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#78

Post by SkyPuncher »

GoToRO wrote: post #68

Good engineers must learn that while they spent the time learning their skills, other people spent that time learning how to steal others’ people work. If you are really good, you must start your own company. Much harder, I know.

Lol. This is terrible advice.

Starting a company does nothing to prevent others from stealing your work. Just puts more effort on the business owner to source business and protect their IP.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#79

Post by Threeve303 »

clort wrote: post #10

There are lots of problems here and it seems to me that Tesla is being a bully. Cristina Balan has a fundraiser page, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/a86fmm-fighting-tesla-for-defamin... and there is some text there from her, setting out some facts as she has seen them.

Thanks for sharing that. It provides much more insight and context on the situation.

For me, the whole thing comes back to the news article. It is absolutely bonkers no matter the circumstance. Huffington Post should not have published anything without verifying that she was actually a criminal. Clearly Tesla thought they screwed up as well or they wouldn't have fired the guy responsible for it two days later.

I completely understand wanting to have her removed from the company and the way it was done. It's just that you cannot go around labelling someone a criminal for life if all they have done is make a few middle managers angry by going over their heads. If she truly is a "criminal" for secret recordings then it's on Tesla to take that to the proper authorities. Once the proper authorities (i.e. the justice system, jury of your peers, not power tripping middle managers) determines that you are a criminal, then feel free to share that for reference checks and write as many news articles as you want broadcasting it. But not until then, and if that kind of rule is broken, the penalty for those that do should be very severe.

Re: Former Tesla engineer sues for defamation

#80

Post by cinbun8 »

zaroth wrote: post #7

TFA is kind of a strange re-telling of an interesting story. It came into the public view after an article from Inc. about Musk's famous email telling people to break with the chain of command. [1] The HuffPo posted an article responding to Inc raising Balan's concerns [2]; > At the time Balan was working on the interiors design team at Tesla, where she identified and “tried … to solve two engineering issues,” she wr…

Recording internal meetings to raise an issue isn't the best way to deal with the situation. I'm not surprised she was let go. The company probably saw this as dangerous behavior.
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