Here’s How Much Severance Laid Off Tesla Workers Are Getting

Tesla cut 10 percent of its workforce a few weeks ago, and now we’re getting a better look at what sort of severance package its recently laid-off workers are getting. CEO Elon Musk sent an email to impacted employees late at night on April 14 letting them know they were immediately terminated and cut out of Tesla’s internal systems. He also told them that they would receive their severance information “within 48 hours.”

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Now, Business Insider is reporting the Austin, Texas-based automaker is offering workers two months of severance pay, which means they’d get paid through June 14, according to five former workers who spoke to the outlet. It does not appear that the packages are weighted based on the length of service at Tesla. That means workers with anywhere from a few months to several years of work at the automaker got the same number of weeks paid out. Brutal. That, folks, is why ya need a union.

Additionally, Tesla workers were given “either 30 days or 3 months (or both)” from their termination date to exercise their vested stock options. Staff would also have the PTO that they’d accrued leading up to their termination date paid out in their final paycheck.

Coincidentally, the two months of severance is just about the exact amount of time you need to skirt the WARN Act, as Business Insider explains:

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, companies that have more than 100 workers are required to provide 60 days of notice before a large-scale layoff. But Tesla’s severance offer could address any potential penalties if it were found to have violated the WARN Act, which says laid-off employees can be entitled to up to 60 days of pay and benefits if not given proper advanced notice.