Tesla Settles With Worker Injured in Fall

Thursday, July 21, 2016 | 0

A foreign worker seriously injured in a three-story fall last year at the Tesla factory in Fremont has settled a workers' compensation claim and wage suit against the electric vehicle maker, and several of its contractors.

Gregor Lesnik, a 42-year-old construction worker from Slovenia, suffered broken legs, fractured ribs and a concussion after falling from a paint shop roof in May 2015, according to a news article by the Bay Area News Group.

Lesnik was awarded $150,000 for his workers’ compensation claim and $400,000 to settle the civil suit, the news group reported, citing records filed in Alameda County Superior Court.

Lesnik was one of about 140 foreign workers hired by a subcontractor to help Tesla expand its Fremont factory. The workers were the subject of an investigative report by the San Jose Mercury News, "The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla's Factory." The investigation alleged that the workers were on questionable business visas and were paid as little as $5 an hour.