Tesla was exposed to a contract with fresh graduates, and the student concerned: It is very difficult to find a job again

The Paper

2024-04-25 14:44Posted on the official account of Shanghai The Paper

On April 24, the topic of "Tesla was exposed to breaking the contract for fresh graduates" appeared on the hot search, causing heated discussions.

The surging news reporter searched and found that many users who claimed to be fresh college students in the class of 2024 posted their recent experience of being withdrawn from Tesla's employment notice on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Niuke, and revealed that Tesla would give compensation for one month's salary. The surging news reporter verified with Tesla, but the other party did not respond as of press time.

Tesla was exposed to a contract with fresh graduates, and the student concerned: It is very difficult to find a job again

It is rumored on the Internet that Tesla broke the contract with fresh graduates. Screenshot of social platform

Fresh graduates to be hired: HR said that "all the fresh graduates it was responsible for recruiting were broken"

On April 24, The Paper reporter contacted Xiao Liu, one of the 2024 fresh graduates who had broken the contract. Xiao Liu will graduate from a robotics-related major at a university in Beijing in June, and he will start to apply for multiple positions in Tesla in August 2023, and after 4 rounds of interviews, he finally got a job in a Tesla store in early 2024.

At that time, Xiao Liu had several offers on hand, and after a comprehensive comparison, he chose Tesla, "The salary is not high but not low, give a little stock, the work intensity is not too big to understand, it is a cost-effective job, and it is also my dream situation." Xiao Liu introduced that when he decided to accept Tesla's offer, other job opportunities were given up by him one after another.

On the afternoon of April 23, he received a call from Tesla's HR, offering to withdraw the offer notice, "I am probably sorry that the company has made this difficult decision." ”

Xiao Liu said that he had also applied for a job as a summer internship at Tesla before, and because the position was cut, he had already experienced a contract that was broken after being hired, "I was really disappointed to be broken twice in a row." ”

Xiao Liu told reporters that he later saw rumors on the Internet that all the offers of this year's Tesla graduates were broken, and the scale was huge, but he had no way to verify the authenticity. However, after receiving the offer, he successively set up an exchange group with about 10 new graduates to be hired, including students from Hainan and Shanghai, and all the members of the group have been broken by Tesla.

"I haven't figured out how to tell my family yet, but when I got the offer, my mom was very happy for me. Xiao Liu said that the previous offers at hand have expired, and he has not cared about work for several months, so he can only cheer up and quickly look for it again, "I dare not put my expectations too high." ”

Xiao Wang, another fresh graduate who received an offer from Tesla's Shanghai factory in the second half of 2023, told The Paper reporter that he suddenly received an HR call on the morning of April 23 and was notified to break the contract.

Around April 15, when the news of Tesla's large-scale layoffs came out, Xiao Wang asked HR whether his offer would be affected, and was told that it would not be affected. "Actually, we don't blame HR, it's not for them to decide. It's not just Tesla, other fresh graduates have also broken their contracts. Xiao Wang said.

Xiao Wang also gave up many other job opportunities because of the offer of Tesla, and now, the spring recruitment is about to come to an end, he admitted that it is still very difficult to find a job again, "mainly because the time is more embarrassing." Xiao Wang said that HR is also recommending jobs to students who have broken their contracts through personal resources, and if there is a good opportunity, he will try it.

Another interviewee revealed to reporters that after HR called to inform him of the termination of the contract, he asked HR whether Tesla had broken the contract with all the fresh graduates.

The interviewee also revealed that when HR called to withdraw the offer of employment, it also sent a compensation agreement, but the agreement stated that the existence of the agreement and any terms in it should be kept confidential, such as breach of contract, the company has the right to recover the compensation, etc. In addition, HR also said that in addition to compensation, it will help fresh graduates as much as possible, such as trying their best to cooperate with them through the termination process and issuing letters of recommendation.

As of press time, Tesla has not responded to the above content.

Lawyer: The Labor Contract Law does not apply to disputes between fresh graduates and enterprises, which is unfavorable to fresh graduates

Is it reasonable and legal for a fresh graduate to be compensated for one month's salary if the contract is broken by the enterprise? Is the Labor Law and the Labor Contract Law applicable to a dispute between a fresh graduate and an enterprise? How to protect the employment rights and interests of a fresh graduate?

Zhuang Xinwang, executive chairman of the global board of directors and equity partner of Duan & Duan Law Firm, told The Paper that in the case of a breach of contract by an enterprise, if the company and the student have signed an "employment agreement for college graduates", but there is no reasonable liability clause for breach of contract in the agreement, the compensation will be considered mainly from the perspective of the loss caused to the student, and the graduate needs to provide evidence of the loss. However, in the case of students who do not provide labor, it is difficult to determine the loss.

However, if there is no graduate employment agreement, compensation will be considered from the liability for negligence in the contract. Considering the degree of fault of the employer and the losses caused to the graduates by not signing the labor contract, we can determine how much compensation should be paid to the graduates. In the case of compensation for one month's salary, it is common for an employee to receive compensation for a non-recent graduate (employee) who has received an offer of employment after applying for a job, but then fails to find a job due to reasons attributable to the employer. Of course, there are cases where the compensation is more or less than one month's salary, which needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Disputes between fresh graduates and enterprises are generally divided into two situations: (1) Fresh graduates will generally sign the "Employment Agreement for College Graduates" with schools and employers. This agreement is different from an employment contract. If the employer violates the employment agreement, it shall bear the liability for breach of contract as stipulated in the agreement. (2) If there is no "Employment Agreement for College Graduates", but the employer issues an offer letter to the graduates. After that, the employer stopped hiring the graduates for their own reasons. If the employer is held liable, it is generally considered from the perspective of the employer's liability for contractual negligence.

However, neither of the above two circumstances is applicable to the Employment Contract Law. If the interests of graduates are to be protected, the employer's responsibilities should be reasonably stipulated in the "Employment Agreement for College Graduates".

According to Red Star News, Li Jing, a lawyer at Beijing Real View Law Firm, said that disputes between fresh graduates and enterprises do not apply to the labor law and labor contract law, and can only be implemented in accordance with the terms of the civil code contract, which is very unfavorable to the graduates. ”

In addition, according to media reports, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors in the United States, announced Tesla's large-scale layoffs on April 15. In a memo to employees, he wrote that the company had laid off "more than 10 percent." As of December 31, 2023, Tesla has a total of 140473 employees worldwide, and a 10% layoff means that 14,000 people will be affected. According to the 21st Century Economic News, some Tesla China employees revealed that Tesla China's sales, delivery, after-sales and other positions are the hardest hit areas of the layoffs, and some departments have laid off as much as 40%, and the above positions claim to be no longer recruiting.

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