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Tesla laying off 316 workers at Buffalo, New York facility amid global staff reductions

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6 months ago

May 8, 2024

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Tesla laying off 316 workers at Buffalo, New York facility amid global staff reductions

Tesla is planning to lay off 316 workers at its Buffalo, New York site as Elon Musk’s company has sought to slash its global workforce amid highly-publicized revenue drops, vehicle recalls and price cutting.

In its latest filing with the New York State Department of Labor, Tesla indicated that five more employees are expected to be laid off beginning Aug. 1 at the Buffalo plant. The notice was filed Friday and made public Tuesday.

Prior to its most recent notice, Tesla had already indicated that more than 300 employees in Buffalo, New York would be targeted for layoffs this summer. The filing was posted under the WARN Act, a U.S. labor law that requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 days notification in advance of planned closings or mass layoffs to protect workers and their families

A total of 2,025 employees work at the Buffalo plant, according to the latest WARN notice.

The news comes a week after Tesla laid off two executives and nearly 500 employees on its EV charging team amid publicized plans for the company to reduce its global workforce by 10%.

Tesla layoffs: Tesla lays off charging, new car and public policy teams in latest round of cuts

Tesla previously announced 10% reduction in workforce

The tech giant announced in mid-April that it would lay off 10% of its global workforce to eliminate “duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas” amid its rapid growth, Musk said in a memo obtained by Electrek and CNBC.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Musk said in the memo.

Since the memo came to light, it’s been revealed that Tesla is planning to lay off nearly 2,700 workers at its Austin, Texas factory in June, along with 2,735 workers in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Last week, the company announced that it would be cutting almost its entire supercharging team. “A few” of those charging team employees were to be reassigned to other teams, according to The Information.

“Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction,” CEO Elon Musk wrote in an email to company executives, according to The Information. “While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.”

The layoffs came amid an April company earnings call, where a drop in year-over-year revenue was announced for the first time since 2020 amid layoffs, recalls, price cutting and a fight over a potential $56 billion pay package for Musk.

During the same tumultuous week, the company recalled nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks over a defect with the accelerator causing it to get stuck when pressed, increasing the risk of crash. This covers all the trucks Tesla has sold since the vehicle reached market in November.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com