Exclusive: Mike Tully’s wife ‘threatened to divorce him’ if he moved for work, according to unreported federal lawsuit received via The Independent
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A former Tesla executive said he agreed to perform a remote assignment for the electric carmaker, which then nearly backtracked and threatened to fire him if he didn’t move out of his Southern California home, which would have led to a recurrence of a harrowing and harrowing marriage. -Threatening condition.
In a lawsuit filed last month in state court and moved to federal court on Wednesday, operational threat and compliance specialist Mike Tully accuses Tesla of a cruel bait-and-switch after “receiving a promise and assurance” that He wouldn’t be forced to move. The Irvine resident only accepted the assignment because of that assurance, provided through his new boss, Deputy General Counsel Charles Lee, according to the previously unreported complaint.
Tesla lured the 55-year-old Tully away from Bank of America, where he had worked for 16 years, to join its corporate offices in Fremont, about 400 miles north of Irvine, the complaint states. It says Tully informed Tesla senior leadership that “part of the ‘deal’ for him to leave BofA was the promise that his role would remain remote.”
“He made it transparent to everyone at Tesla that [leaving] Irvine was non-negotiable,” and the senior officials involved swore it would not be a problem, according to the complaint.
When they later reneged on their commitment, Tully, whose wife threatened divorce if he insisted on uprooting her and their two children, felt “completely blindsided and deceived by Tesla and his control team,” the complaint says.
Although Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk is not mentioned in the complaint, the billionaire MAGA supporter tasked by President-elect Donald Trump with cutting massive amounts from the federal budget has made a strong case for public officials to return to public service. five days. a week.
“If federal workers don’t need to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay them for the privilege of staying home in the time of Covid,” Musk recently wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
According to the U. S. Office of Management and Budget, about 10% of federal personnel are working completely remotely.
Tesla officials, as well as the in-house employment litigation attorney handling the company’s defense, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. In a Jan. 10 court filing in response to Tully’s complaint, the company dismissed the case and submitted it to binding arbitration, raising the terms of Tully’s employment contract. Tesla also argued that “all of the allegedly unlawful conduct alleged through [Tully] was necessitated by business necessity. “
Tully started at Tesla on April 11, 2022, providing legal support services to Lee and the company’s board, assisting with international audits, and ensuring compliance with state regulations for the EV maker’s insurance offerings, according to the complaint. Things were going well, and Tully received “excellent” performance reviews, the complaint contends.
However, two months into the job, Tully “was informed that his position was no longer permitted to be remote, and he was required under a return-to-office mandate to relocate to a Tesla-approved ‘Finance site,’ which was either the Fremont office or a Texas location,” the complaint states. “He was informed that if he failed to relocate, he would be terminated.”
Alarmed, Tully, who had been given a deadline to move out in December 2022, went straight to Lee’s house and reminded him of their agreement. He explained that his family owned a business in Irvine, which his wife ran, and that his children attended the local college, the complaint continues. He says he told Lee he would “weigh his features and try to make a plan with his family,” but that, frankly, it was an “unlikely” move. Starting over in Texas remains a failure, and renting a second home in the incredibly beloved San Francisco Bay Area while commuting home on weekends is financially unsustainable, the lawsuit continues.
Around this time, Tully learned that other staffers in the department had been granted exceptions to the return-to-office mandate, and would be permitted to work from offices closer to home, according to the complaint. As a compromise, Tully suggested he work out of an office Tesla kept in the Irvine area, but, “[w]ithout explanation, he was told this was not an option and he would have to move hundreds of miles away,” the complaint states.
He says Tully’s relatives “didn’t move and his wife threatened to divorce him if he did. “
The tension on stage exacerbated Crohn’s disease and Tully’s irritable bowel disease, which had rarely manifested during his tenure at BofA, according to the complaint. Flare-ups have become more frequent, causing inflammation and intestinal obstruction that led to septic seizures and a buildup. poisonous ingredients in her system, and left Tully bedridden, in excruciating pain, for days, the complaint says.
When December rolled around, Tully and his Tesla overlords were still at loggerheads, the complaint alleges, describing Lee as “inflexible” about the relocation issue. Painted into a corner, Tully went to HR and filled them in on his medical condition, according to the complaint. In a last-ditch effort to save his job, Tully asked for an accommodation that would allow him to remain at Tesla while minimizing stress to keep his Crohn’s and IBD under control, the complaint states.
“They discussed various options, such as a nearby office or moving [Tully] to another division within the company that was within an easier commute distance,” it says. “[The HR exec] stated he understood the concern, and he would get back to him.”
The next day, Tully was “summarily” fired, according to the complaint.
“At noon, he invited to a video convention with [HR] and M. Lee, who said they couldn’t put the ‘logistics’ in place to allow him to stay in Irvine and as a result, since he couldn’t relocate, he was done,” he says.
Tully is asking a jury to award him punitive, economic, and special damages, along with injunctive relief enjoining Tesla from engaging in the “unlawful, fraudulent and/or unfair practices, policies and patterns” alleged in his complaint, plus attorneys’ fees.
Tesla’s return to the office mirrors CEO Elon Musk’s move to eliminate remote work for federal employees.
Tesla’s return-to-office policy mirrors CEO Elon Musk’s policy of working remotely for federal employees.
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