Tesla Inc. has asked the court to uphold an arbitrator’s decision that recently dismissed its former engineer’s allegations that the automaker fired and defamed him for raising concerns about damaged floors and contract practices.
In a petition filed in San Francisco federal court on Thursday Tesla said an arbitrator in a Nov. 3 decision found Cristina Balan's claim that the company falsely accused her of a crime in response to a 2017 Huffington Post article about her dismissal was inaccurate. his time.
Last March, an appeals court in California ruled that Balan was required to arbitrate defamation claims because they were directly related to his employment with Tesla.
The company on Thursday asked the court to uphold the arbitrator's decision which had paved the way for Balan to challenge it.
Balan said in an email on Friday that he would seek to vacate his arbitration award ‘because of fraud, corruption, bias and blatant disregard for the law’.
In a lawsuit in 2019, Balan said he was fired shortly after sending an email to Tesla chief executive Elon Musk claiming the contract was awarded on the basis of friendship regardless of price or quality.
In addition, Balan also raised concerns about the floor mats in the S tesla model that curve under the pedals.
In a statement given to the Huffington Post about Balan's case Tesla claimed he fired the acquaintance for using company time to work on personal projects and illegally recording conversations with colleagues.
According to court filings, Tesla praised Balan’s work before he was fired including crediting him with perfecting the design for the battery pack.
