A former Tesla Inc. regional service manager claims Elon Musk’s EV company was too cheap to install air conditioning in the bay of one of its service shops to protect technicians during heat waves — and that he ultimately got fired over his complaints.
Benjamen Simon reported unsafe working conditions from heat “reaching dangerous temperatures” on the Tesla shop floor in Peabody, Mass., several times in 2021 and urged management to install air conditioning, according to a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston after it was transferred from state court.
Tesla denies wrongdoing in the case.
Simon claims he kept escalating the requests, even after his managers told him Tesla’s finance department wouldn’t approve spending “well over $100,000 for just one location to get air conditioning,” according to the complaint.
“The dangerous heat situation did not improve,” Kathleen Davidson, a lawyer for the former manager, wrote in the comp…