Tesla has encountered trouble again in the United States due to large-scale layoffs of American employees and expanded recruitment of foreigners holding H-1B visas. According to reports, a U.S. federal judge ruled thatTesla needs to respond to a class action lawsuit.The lawsuit accuses the automaker of laying off more than 6,000 U.S. employees through 2024.Priority is given to H-1B visa holders in the recruitment of engineering positions, which is a systematic discrimination against domestic workers in the United States.
U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria said the factual basis submitted by the plaintiff was "basically sufficient" and the case could continue to be tried, but he also expressed doubts about the credibility of the relevant allegations.
According to reports, software engineer Scott Taub filed this proposed class action lawsuit in September 2025, accusing Tesla of violating U.S. federal civil rights laws by refusing to provide engineering positions to foreign visa holders because of its "systemic preference" in recruitment.
Taub said he was told by a recruiter at a staffing outsourcing company thatThe engineer position he applied for is "only available to H-1B visa holders."
In a brief ruling issued late Monday, Judge Chhabria allowed Taub's lawsuit to move forward. The lawsuit points out that while Tesla will lay off more than 6,000 local employees in 2024 (the vast majority of whom are identified as U.S. citizens), it will hire approximately 1,355 new H-1B visa holders.
However, the judge rejected the relevant claims of the second plaintiff, Human Resources Commissioner Sophia Brand, believing that Tesla’s statement that it favored foreign employees in the recruitment of human resources positions was “unreasonable” and gave Brand two weeks to submit a revised complaint.
Tesla has denied all accusations in court documents and called the claims "ridiculous."
However, data from the U.S. Department of Labor supports the fact that Tesla particularly prefers employees with H-1B visas. The annual H-1B visa quota in the United States is only 65,000, and applications from Tesla alone account for more than 3% of the national quota.
The report also pointed out that companies are laying off American employees and instead hiring foreign visa holders, and these holders have weaker bargaining power in salary negotiations and working conditions rights because their visas are tied to their employers.
Note: H-1B visa is a non-immigrant work visa in the United States for highly educated foreign professional and technical personnel. The holder's work permit is highly bound to the employer. It is the main visa type for recruiting foreign talents in the U.S. technology industry.
