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Comment by aazaa | Hacker News Reader

> The chief executive announced the plans on Twitter Monday: “I will be on the line with everyone else,” he wrote. “If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.”

Translation: my employees now must weigh the consequences of losing their jobs on the one hand vs. being arrested on the other.

What guarantees, if any, has Tesla has given its employees in the event of prosecution and or other consequences of violating state law?

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>Translation: my employees now must weigh the consequences of losing their jobs on the one hand vs. being arrested on the other.

"First, I’d like to be super clear that if you feel the slightest bit ill or even uncomfortable, please don’t feel obligated to come to work. I will personally be at work, but that is just me. Totally OK if you want to stay home for any reason."

https://electrek.co/2020/03/17/elon-musk-tesla-coronavirus-p...

I'm guessing the workers at his factories need to come to work anyways. A paycheck is a paycheck.

US unemployment is extremely generous.

I don't think this is true relative to international expectations? It's certainly more than it was pre-covid, but isn't it still limited time and low income for a high cost of living area?

I have been paid $3,232 to sit at home and do nothing the last month. Not including the stimulus check I haven't cashed yet. I would have made about $3,000 in the same time. That is completely insane to me. I do not see how that isn't extremely generous. I don't see how it's sustainable either.

That's hardly extremely generous for a city. Many people have rents between 1-2k which each up a third to two thirds of that. I realize it may be generous in your situation though. Re: affordability/sustainability, the alternative is possibly a recession as great or worse than the great depression, so the government is willing to borrow as much as it can to prop up consumer spending during the crisis. The idea being that if we continue spending we can avoid a demand crash and recover quickly once we can stop social distancing safely.

Exactly. Which is why I don't understand all the people shitting on him for making that option available.

From what I can tell, employees would still be totally culpable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duress_in_American_law#Require...

and catching a potentially fatal illness on the third hand. Yeah the risk is probably small now, but it is still a risk.

Is it going to stop being a risk in a few weeks? I'm sure we can agree that a ban on auto manufacturing is unsustainable.

Why not?

A lot of people aren’t putting many miles on their vehicles while all this is going on.

A lockdown that keeps Tesla closed is going to reduce demand for new cars for related reasons.

Driving is only down about a third from pre-pandemic levels.

But more broadly, we can't centrally plan which things people do or don't need over the long term. It just isn't an effective economic strategy.

But this isn't long term. A few months is a far cry for long term.

A few more months isn't going to give us a vaccine so at worst that's just causing more economic damage, leaving hospitals empty and moving the pandemic two months into the future. At best you open back up with safety procedures, and limit the spread. But there's no reason you can't do that exact same thing today.

Also, I agree with Musk that an indefinite lockdown is unconstitutional. And if it's not, I want our laws changed so it is. It may be a good idea health-wise (or may not, see increased suicides) but that doesn't make it legal and letting an unelected official impose an indefinite lockdown is just bad policy. So if the local authority couldn't give a deadline, I'd tell them to piss off too.

It seems even more implausible that the risk will be less in a few months than in a few weeks. What’s going to change?

We’ll most likely have contact tracing and a good supply of tests in two months. As well as lot more ppe.

So a lot will be different in two months.

Alameda County already has contact tracing, a lot of tests, and sufficient PPE for ongoing needs. (They admittedly don't meet the state standards that every hospital should have a 30 day stockpile.)

Isn't Tesla the only car manufacturer with no reopen date in the next couple of weeks?

It won't stop being a risk until we have a vaccine, but the risk may be smaller, and once the risk gets small enough we may be able to keep it that way through testing and contact-tracing.

From what I've read, Employees don't have to come in if they are afraid of getting sick. They just won't get payed for that time.

You probably have a higher risk of dying driving to the factory than you do of dying of COVID that you caught in the factory given the size, ventilation, and PPE measures in place.

Fortunately I don't think Tesla employs many 80 year olds.

We can all see that they are not going to arrest line employees. Even CA government isn't that foolish.

All employees have been told that they may stay home if they aren't comfortable at all - full pay.

This is entirely optional.

Even if that were true (it is not, as far as I can tell), they would know that it will be tracked and could possibly be used against them later. Never make employees choose between a paycheck and following the law.

It's not true because it could possibly be used against them in the future?

You're claiming it's definitely not true because MAYBE they might be punished?

How is that a logical statement?

No, I'm saying I searched online and found nothing to corroborate your statement.

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