According to the business newspaper Handelsblatt, the rate of workers at the Tesla factory in Grünheide who informed their superiors by phone that they were sick increased to 17 percent in August. This is more than three times the average for the German car industry last year.
In September, absenteeism was ten to eleven percent. Tesla executives called it “unacceptable.”
Such high absenteeism has raised concerns among Tesla’s CEO. Elon Musk wrote on the X platform that it is investigating the issue after a user of the social media site shared data from a report by the Handelsblatt newspaper on the platform.
Managers visited employees’ homes on L4
Handelsblatt reported that plant managers visited Tesla employees’ homes, who were on sick leave, citing a recording of an internal meeting from last week.
According to human resources manager Erik Demmler, some people were really sickbut there were also people who definitely raised doubts. Some slammed doors or threatened to call the police, the newspaper reported.
Labor law experts believe that Tesla’s actions are legal. Home visits are generally permittedsays lawyer Till Heimann from the Kliemt law firm in Frankfurt in Handelsblatt.
However, the employee is not obliged to let the boss insidebecause home rules and the employee’s privacy are at stake, adds Heimann.
Employees are overworked
“Home visits to Tesla employees are another absurd measure against the long-term, above-average disease rate” at the factory, says Dirk Schulze, regional head of IG Metall. Company employees report “extremely high workload“a management puts pressure on those who are sickwhile healthy employees are overloaded with additional workhe said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.
The Tesla factory employs approximately 12,000 people. peoplewhich produces the Model Y, Europe’s best-selling electric passenger car last year.
