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THIS IS FANTASTIC. I’ve had a friend, a specialist engineer doing failure analysis, who has been largely incapacitated from any work because of Tesla. He susta

THIS IS FANTASTIC. I’ve had a friend, a specialist engineer doing failure analysis, who has been largely incapacitated from any work because of Tesla. He sustained an injury during a high urgency project (which failed, whodathunk) which required him to work 16 hour days for a few months. During the course of this, he sustained injuries to arms and legs due to machinery issues (the machinery at Tesla often has workers contorting into unnatural positions, I’ve heard). It’s been 2 years and my friend is unable to pay for the requisite operations and can’t get a cent out of Tesla. He is unable to work because of his injuries and so really has been confined to his home for 2 years now. I have no respect for Musk. An employer who has no respect for their employees, a leader who has no regard for those he leads, is morally bankrupt and seeks only their own good.

komali2 8y ago
With respect to you and your friend, I'm automatically skeptical of stories like this. We're on the internet, after all. Has your friend spoken to news agencies about this? Why not, if he/she hasn't? Surely any of the major news agencies would be watering at the mouth for a story like this.
- StudentStuff 8y ago
  Huh? There are articles every week about injured workers at Tesla getting screwed over, its a core reason why the workers are attempting to unionize. Someone needs to stand up to Tesla and protect injured workers. Take a look for yourself: https://www.qwant.com/?q=tesla%20workers&t=news https://www.qwant.com/?q=tesla%20workers&t=news
  - josefresco 8y ago
    > There are articles every week I looked, it's an exaggeration to say every week.
- mabufo 8y ago
  What are you skeptical about? That this person's friend is actually injured? That it happened because of tesla? People get injured at work. Maybe not where YOU work, but it absolutely happens. Also, the subtext of your comment - that this person OF COURSE would have contacted a news organization if their claim was legitimate is frankly very weird.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > What are you skeptical about? That this person's friend is actually injured? That it happened because of tesla? What I (not the original poster of the comment you are questioning) is that they were injured in the workplace at Tesla as en employee and unable to get anything from Tesla to deal with that, since workers compensation is a bright-line legal requirement for all employers and covers all employees. Now, bureaucratic difficulties dealing with Tesla’s WC insurer resulting in annoying runarounds, poor doctors in inconvenient locations, and disappointing care quality would be credible. Crickets, though, stretches belief.
  - komali2 8y ago
    I am skeptical by default of anything on the internet posted on forums with nothing more than an email requirement. I voice this skepticism because as a hobby I lie on reddit profusely and then track this misinformation, sometimes for years later. I've seen unfactual "memes" spread across reddit like wildfire, such as "eating honey prevents allergies." It's often traceable to a single sub-tree comment in a single popular comment on a popular AskReddit thread. I think people should be more skeptical on the internet, and I think the burden of proof for stories such as the one we're discussing should be higher, considering the internet is being weaponized for psyops, state-state information war, and corporate information war. EDIT: By the way, I think the fact that you are challenging me on this is good, because you are displaying more empathy than me. You're taking "best possible view" of the OP and I personally believe that makes you a better internet person than me. (I promise I'm fun at meatspace parties)
    - Semirhage 8y ago
      Is this skepticism consistent? If I browse a few weeks of your comment history, will this tendency to doubt “anything posted on the internet with nothing more than an email requirement” be your norm?
- trhway 8y ago
  well, i second his story. I know a guy who got serious issues with his shoulder from working at Tesla. He is low income, large family so no skills/time/resources to pursue his case (his description was along the lines of Tesla just refusing to pay)
  - komali2 8y ago
    I have sympathy for people who are abused by companies against whom they stand no legal chance to fight, because I've been in their shoes. But to you, I have to say the same to the OP: The requirement to post on this board is an email address.
- chalkandpaste 8y ago
  Hey I don’t blame you for being skeptical, it’s the way of the internet. I don’t think media attention is what he wants as he is still attempting to work through legal recourse.
  - komali2 8y ago
    Smart, I can think of a couple articles I've read of people that have torpedoed their legal options by kicking up a shitstorm. Extended legal action may very well be why there aren't big stories about this.
dang 8y ago
Could you please not use allcaps for emphasis in HN comments? This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
idoh 8y ago
That's crazy. What happened, generally speaking? Was he hit by something, or more along the lines of a receptive stress injury?
- vkou 8y ago
  Which part of this story is crazy? That someone got injured working at an automotive plant, that they were strongly encouraged to do overtime, or that their employer declined to assume any liability?
  - nerfhammer 8y ago
    Denying worker's comp for injury is so obviously illegal and such a brazen civil liability that it would be shocking that a company of Tesla's size would be able to simply refuse to deal with it. This person should be able to sue the pants off of Tesla. If they haven't gotten any compensation for their injuries maybe they haven't even filed a worker's comp claim, or they don't know that's a thing, or something.
    - notyourday 8y ago
      I know a few worker comp attorneys in NY and CA. They say that in general worker comp claims that are being fought take 3-5 years to win. There's an entire sub-industry of attorneys specializing in fighting insurers/companies on worker comp cases.
  - tedunangst 8y ago
    Specialist engineer doing failure analysis doesn't sound like one of the more injury prone jobs. I mean, I don't know what happened, I just don't associate that job description with debilitating injuries, so it does sound a little crazy.
    - idoh 8y ago
      Yeah that's the angle I was taking. Doing failure analysis seems like it involves observation and thinking, hard to see how you get injured doing that unless it is a freak accident.
kyrra 8y ago
If your friend already pursued legal avenues with no results, it may be worth having them reach out to news companies to see if he can get some attention (especially in-light of California starting this investigation). Bad press with case-study sort of issues is always a great way to get things fixed.
- StudentStuff 8y ago
  Its horrifying how Musk treats his workers, its very reminiscent of what Amazon does to most of its employees here in Seattle. Unpaid overtime for warehouse workers? Definitely, as long as the worker doesn't squawk to L&I! Work your developers 10 hours a day, then guilt trip them to coming in on Sunday? Amazon does this constantly. Tesla, SpaceX and Blue Origin seem to have the same work culture as Amazon, even Microsoft or Adobe have better work cultures. Oh, and Musk is all too happy to intimidate employees: https://www.thedailybeast.com/workers-say-tesla-is-trying-to-scare-them-out-of-a-union https://www.thedailybeast.com/workers-say-tesla-is-trying-to...
  - TAForObvReasons 8y ago
    This is 100% the "move fast and break things" culture SV has come to adore over the last decade. Things also includes employees and pesky labor laws.
    - briandear 8y ago
      Really? How does Facebook, Apple, Salesforce, Intel, etc. violate labor laws or mistreat their employees? You can’t use a few companies as a proxy for the entire valley.
      - danso 8y ago
        Wait, seriously? You've never heard about Uber? Or this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L... http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tech-jobs-settlement-20150903-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tech-job...
ryandrake 8y ago
Doesn't California have Workers' Compensation? I once injured myself on the job a long time ago in Florida (drill press nearly turned my finger into a Pez dispenser), and with a little paperwork, all my medical bills were covered by WC. I thought it worked like that in all 50 states.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Doesn't California have Workers' Compensation? Yes, all California employers are required to offer workers compensation benefits, and to inform employees about their rights under workers comp law. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/faqs.html https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/faqs.html
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

komali2 8y ago

With respect to you and your friend, I'm automatically skeptical of stories like this. We're on the internet, after all. Has your friend spoken to news agencies about this? Why not, if he/she hasn't? Surely any of the major news agencies would be watering at the mouth for a story like this.

StudentStuff 8y ago
Huh? There are articles every week about injured workers at Tesla getting screwed over, its a core reason why the workers are attempting to unionize. Someone needs to stand up to Tesla and protect injured workers. Take a look for yourself: https://www.qwant.com/?q=tesla%20workers&t=news https://www.qwant.com/?q=tesla%20workers&t=news
- josefresco 8y ago
  > There are articles every week I looked, it's an exaggeration to say every week.
mabufo 8y ago
What are you skeptical about? That this person's friend is actually injured? That it happened because of tesla? People get injured at work. Maybe not where YOU work, but it absolutely happens. Also, the subtext of your comment - that this person OF COURSE would have contacted a news organization if their claim was legitimate is frankly very weird.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > What are you skeptical about? That this person's friend is actually injured? That it happened because of tesla? What I (not the original poster of the comment you are questioning) is that they were injured in the workplace at Tesla as en employee and unable to get anything from Tesla to deal with that, since workers compensation is a bright-line legal requirement for all employers and covers all employees. Now, bureaucratic difficulties dealing with Tesla’s WC insurer resulting in annoying runarounds, poor doctors in inconvenient locations, and disappointing care quality would be credible. Crickets, though, stretches belief.
- komali2 8y ago
  I am skeptical by default of anything on the internet posted on forums with nothing more than an email requirement. I voice this skepticism because as a hobby I lie on reddit profusely and then track this misinformation, sometimes for years later. I've seen unfactual "memes" spread across reddit like wildfire, such as "eating honey prevents allergies." It's often traceable to a single sub-tree comment in a single popular comment on a popular AskReddit thread. I think people should be more skeptical on the internet, and I think the burden of proof for stories such as the one we're discussing should be higher, considering the internet is being weaponized for psyops, state-state information war, and corporate information war. EDIT: By the way, I think the fact that you are challenging me on this is good, because you are displaying more empathy than me. You're taking "best possible view" of the OP and I personally believe that makes you a better internet person than me. (I promise I'm fun at meatspace parties)
  - Semirhage 8y ago
    Is this skepticism consistent? If I browse a few weeks of your comment history, will this tendency to doubt “anything posted on the internet with nothing more than an email requirement” be your norm?
trhway 8y ago
well, i second his story. I know a guy who got serious issues with his shoulder from working at Tesla. He is low income, large family so no skills/time/resources to pursue his case (his description was along the lines of Tesla just refusing to pay)
- komali2 8y ago
  I have sympathy for people who are abused by companies against whom they stand no legal chance to fight, because I've been in their shoes. But to you, I have to say the same to the OP: The requirement to post on this board is an email address.
chalkandpaste 8y ago
Hey I don’t blame you for being skeptical, it’s the way of the internet. I don’t think media attention is what he wants as he is still attempting to work through legal recourse.
- komali2 8y ago
  Smart, I can think of a couple articles I've read of people that have torpedoed their legal options by kicking up a shitstorm. Extended legal action may very well be why there aren't big stories about this.

dang 8y ago

Could you please not use allcaps for emphasis in HN comments? This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

idoh 8y ago

That's crazy. What happened, generally speaking? Was he hit by something, or more along the lines of a receptive stress injury?

vkou 8y ago
Which part of this story is crazy? That someone got injured working at an automotive plant, that they were strongly encouraged to do overtime, or that their employer declined to assume any liability?
- nerfhammer 8y ago
  Denying worker's comp for injury is so obviously illegal and such a brazen civil liability that it would be shocking that a company of Tesla's size would be able to simply refuse to deal with it. This person should be able to sue the pants off of Tesla. If they haven't gotten any compensation for their injuries maybe they haven't even filed a worker's comp claim, or they don't know that's a thing, or something.
  - notyourday 8y ago
    I know a few worker comp attorneys in NY and CA. They say that in general worker comp claims that are being fought take 3-5 years to win. There's an entire sub-industry of attorneys specializing in fighting insurers/companies on worker comp cases.
- tedunangst 8y ago
  Specialist engineer doing failure analysis doesn't sound like one of the more injury prone jobs. I mean, I don't know what happened, I just don't associate that job description with debilitating injuries, so it does sound a little crazy.
  - idoh 8y ago
    Yeah that's the angle I was taking. Doing failure analysis seems like it involves observation and thinking, hard to see how you get injured doing that unless it is a freak accident.

kyrra 8y ago

If your friend already pursued legal avenues with no results, it may be worth having them reach out to news companies to see if he can get some attention (especially in-light of California starting this investigation). Bad press with case-study sort of issues is always a great way to get things fixed.

StudentStuff 8y ago
Its horrifying how Musk treats his workers, its very reminiscent of what Amazon does to most of its employees here in Seattle. Unpaid overtime for warehouse workers? Definitely, as long as the worker doesn't squawk to L&I! Work your developers 10 hours a day, then guilt trip them to coming in on Sunday? Amazon does this constantly. Tesla, SpaceX and Blue Origin seem to have the same work culture as Amazon, even Microsoft or Adobe have better work cultures. Oh, and Musk is all too happy to intimidate employees: https://www.thedailybeast.com/workers-say-tesla-is-trying-to-scare-them-out-of-a-union https://www.thedailybeast.com/workers-say-tesla-is-trying-to...
- TAForObvReasons 8y ago
  This is 100% the "move fast and break things" culture SV has come to adore over the last decade. Things also includes employees and pesky labor laws.
  - briandear 8y ago
    Really? How does Facebook, Apple, Salesforce, Intel, etc. violate labor laws or mistreat their employees? You can’t use a few companies as a proxy for the entire valley.
    - danso 8y ago
      Wait, seriously? You've never heard about Uber? Or this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_Litigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L... http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tech-jobs-settlement-20150903-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-tech-job...

ryandrake 8y ago

Doesn't California have Workers' Compensation? I once injured myself on the job a long time ago in Florida (drill press nearly turned my finger into a Pez dispenser), and with a little paperwork, all my medical bills were covered by WC. I thought it worked like that in all 50 states.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Doesn't California have Workers' Compensation? Yes, all California employers are required to offer workers compensation benefits, and to inform employees about their rights under workers comp law. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/faqs.html https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/faqs.html

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]