Tesla Is Allegedly Withholding Wages from Sick Workers in Germany
German workers enjoy some of the most robust protections of any country in the world. Tesla, an American company with a factory near Berlin, has seen protests and other disruptions in its German operations, and it’s now facing allegations that it withheld pay from sick workers and pressured them to disclose their private medical information.
Zeit Online reported the story, noting that Tesla announced that it would withhold pay from sick workers. It found that the automaker notified employees of the change by email and said that Tesla also allegedly pressured workers to disclose their diagnoses and waive doctor-patient privacy. The company reportedly noted that the workers being asked these questions are subject to “Doubts about the submitted certificates of incapacity to work.”
The factory’s workers called in sick enough last year to prompt CEO Elon Musk to visit, and the automaker was criticized for conducting unannounced home visits to people out on sick days. However, the plant’s manager said later that the visits weren’t out of the ordinary.
If true, this news will only complicate matters for Tesla in Europe. Germans have already been vocal in their opposition to Musk’s interest in their politics, and his actions here following the presidential inauguration have only added fuel to the fire. Tesla sales in the country have tumbled as well, with more than 76 percent fewer registrations in February 2025 than there were the year before.
[Images: Tesla]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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Building a car factory in Germany was a rookie error. Toyota tried to run an F1 team out of Germany. The problem is that you can't fire worthless people. At one point, they had a payroll a couple of times those of the British teams, because they were paying more than 50% of their personnel to stay home, where they couldn't do any harm to the project. This article is going out of its way to present an incomplete picture by not comparing absentee rates between Tesla's German plant and a couple of its other facilities. Chances are this action is being taken as a last-ditch attempt to save the German factory from freeloading deadbeats. It would be interesting to know what the people who show up for work think.
they should all claim assburgers and say they need to snort ketamine on the job. that should go well :)