Tesla sues California county in virus factory closure fight

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tesla has sued local authorities in California as the electric carmaker is pushing to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada, Reuters reports.

Musk has been pushing to re-open Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory after Alameda County’s health department said the carmaker must not reopen because local lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in effect.

In a blog post on Saturday, May 9, Tesla said the county’s position left it no choice but to take legal action to ensure Tesla and its employees can go back to work.

The company said it had worked out a thorough return-to-work plan that includes online video training for personnel, work zone partition areas, temperature screening, requirements to wear protective equipment and rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocols.

Tesla filed a lawsuit against the county in San Francisco federal court on Saturday, calling the continued restrictions a “power-grab” by the county since California’s governor had said on Thursday that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen.

The company said Alameda was going against the federal and California constitutions, as well as defying the governor’s order, the lawsuit said.

Since emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, the coronavirus is confirmed to have infected 1.2 million Americans, killing more than 73,000.