Former Tesla Employee Settles Over Theft of Trade Secrets, False Claims to Media

Insurance Journal ^ | December 2, 2020 | Jonathan Stempel

[ConservativeDude]

A former Tesla Inc. factory employee will pay Elon Musk’s electric car maker $400,000 after it accused him of tipping reporters about alleged production inefficiencies and delays, a court filing shows.

[ConservativeDude]

As with hate crime victims.....not all whistleblowers are whistleblowers. Some are mere trade thieves who make false claims to the media....

[ctdonath2]

And not necessarily false claims. True claims may not be “whistleblowing” (actionably illegal issues), just violations of non-disclosure agreements. Fast-moving high-pressure projects may very well face “production inefficiencies and delays”, normal real-world issues, the details of which are nobody else’s business and which the ex-employee likely agreed to not divulge.

[ConservativeDude]

that’s exactly right!

Not every employee grievance/gripe/moan is whistleblowing. I don’t like how that rhetorical sleight of hand can attach to stuff that the employee should not be doing, and to your point, may have agreed not to do!

Promise breaker is the term that applies to those people, not whistleblower!