Musk threatening to deport employees? Surprise, surprise.

It's kinda-sorta old news - from way back in the way back of 2014 (when the precipitating incident occurred). But interesting nonetheless. And definitely no surprise. 

The story is that one Cristina Balan - a Romanian-born engineer - was fired from Tesla in 2014 because, she claimed in a recent interview, she reported a brake safety issue, and Elon Musk didn't much like it.

She thought that the Model S’ floor mats could cause a brake safety issue, similar to a situation that Toyota had recently gone through (though that also led to a media firestorm that blew the issue out of proportion). She said that Tesla had chosen suppliers based on friendships, not quality. (Source: Electrek)

She had brought her issue directly to Musk because, the year before, he had sent an all-hands' email out telling employees that, if they had a problem, they "should email/talk to anyone else according to what they think is the fastest way to solve a problem for the benefit of the whole company." Talk to anyone. Including "me." Where "me" - Elon Musk. And, while you're at it, "you should consider yourself obligated to do so until the right thing happens."

Balan took Musk at his word - her first mistake? - and went directly to the man himself.

Turns out, the brake issue Balan may not have been that big a deal, but nontheless, she felt she was doing the right thing by going to the top. And it's not as if she were a little nobody who didn't know what she was talking about. She'd worked on the Tesla Model S.

Her contributions were significant enough that her initials appeared on the Model S’ battery pack.

Anyway, shortly after Balan hit "send" on her email to Musk, but:

...when she showed up to the meeting, it was instead attended by a lawyer and some large men in uniforms, and with Tesla forcing her to resign her position.

Okay. And bad enough that Tesla wanting to shove Balan out, there was this:

During that meeting, Balan says that Tesla’s lawyer threatened to deport many members of her team, who were currently waiting on green card applications, if she didn’t sign the resignation, seemingly in response to her team backing her up in raising these concerns. She ended up signing the resignation in protest, writing on it that “I’m resigning for the position that I was put in a month ago bc I dare to speak up to the Sr management, also bc people that had the chance to speak up were threatened…

The story took a while to get out there, but the Huff Po wrote about it in 2017, at which time: 

...Tesla sent a statement that Balan had stolen company resources to work on a “secret” personal project (Tesla emails show that Balan was told to work on this project by leadership). After this, Balan says she faced difficulty in finding work as companies feared ending up on Musk’s blacklist.

Since the Tesla statement impugned Balan's character, she sued the company for defamation. Tesla "forced her case into arbitration," and the suit got tossed. 

I don't know how this "forced arbitration" works, but it's a tactic that's pro-corporate, not pro-little guy. In any case, Blana pushed back. For a number of reasons (including treatment for breast cancer), Balan's appeal was delayed. But in April, the arbitration agreement was thrown out. 

Balan wants to square off in court over this, and is also going more public with the story, "which she says Musk has tried to stop her from doing, despite his claims of being a “free speech absolutist.”"

Oh, we know from Twitter just what a "free speech absolutist" Musk is. Free to be Elon Musk and those who foolishly worship at his altar. 

In a recent interview, Balan went way out there on Musk, characterizing him as a vindictive little shit who gets off on hurting people. No wonder he gets along so famously with Trump. 

The story about the deportation threats may end up a he-say-she-say situation. But I'm Team Balan. 

Musk has been all-in on Trump's illegal deporation scheme. And Musk has certainly not given us any reason not to believe that he's not a vindictive little shit who gets off on hurting people. 

Anyway, as I saw someone comment, despite Musk's pro-deportation position, which is focused (so far) primarily on sending brown-skinned men with tattoos to a concentration camp in El Salvador, he likes him some H1-B visas, which enable him to hire highly-educated techies to work at his companies. After all, if he can dangle deportation over their heads, what better way to keep them in line? 

Surprise, surprise.