Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) says it will look into allegations that a subcontractor at one of its paint facilities was paid as little as $5.00 U.S. an hour in an unsafe work environment.
According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, Tesla has gotten around U.S. labour laws by getting subcontractors to bring in foreign workers and paying them below market rates in often unsafe conditions.
Gregor Lesnik, a Slovenian man who was hired by one of the electric car maker's subcontractors to work in a paint facility, provides the prime voice of the Mercury News story.
Ostensibly coming to the U.S. in a supervisory role at a BMW plant in South Carolina, Lesnik instead found himself working in numerous hands-on positions at Tesla's facility in California, which led him to many injuries, including two broken legs and a concussion suffered during a third-storey fall.
He was one of 140 foreign workers who came to the country to work for Tesla subcontractors either with tourist visas or business visas, the report alleges, often paying them as little as $5.00 an hour as independent contractors without benefits or other protections.
American workers performing similar jobs in that part of the country earn an average of $52.00 U.S. an hour, data from the Government of California shows.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the report by saying he "will investigate" the story and, in his words, "make it right".
Tesla shares opened trading Tuesday down 78 cents from Monday's close, at $207.51 U.S., in a 52-week trading range of $141.05 to $286.65 U.S.
