A US appeals court ruled on Friday that Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk violated federal labor law by tweeting that employees who joined a union would forfeit their stock options.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a decision by the US National Labor Relations Board that Musk’s 2018 tweet constituted an unlawful threat that could discourage unionization, and ordered him to expunge it.
Musk tweeted, amidst a United Auto Workers (UAW) organizing campaign at Tesla’s Fremont, California, facility: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union … But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment immediately.
President of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Shawn Fain praised the decision in a statement, but also noted that it highlights “our broken US labor law.”
“Here is a company that clearly broke the law and yet it is several years down the road before these workers have achieved a modicum of justice,” Fain said.
Musk’s frequent use of Twitter has previously landed him in legal jeopardy. A British cave explorer unsuccessfully sued Musk for calling him a “pedo guy” on Twitter. In February, Tesla defeated a lawsuit from investors regarding another Musk tweet from 2018 claiming funding was obtained to take the company private.
Last year, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion.