Comment by SilverBirch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by SilverBirch | Hacker News Reader

You're probably better off posting over on reddit in /r/legaladvice they've got a pretty good pool of properly qualified people who will point you in the right direction. This is highly likely to come down to details about what is in your contract or any agreements you made with your employer as well as the jurisdiction. Talking to a lawyer is going to cost you much less than getting screwed by Tesla, so highly recommend going to one for some advice. Outside of legal avenues, I would suggest to you that saying to your boss "I'm willing to locate, but I need flexibility to push that date from August back to January" is most likely going to work if they really do want you back in the office. It's not going to work if (as has been widely suggested) the back to office order is just a pretense for getting people to quit without paying severence.

The other thing to do obviously is talk to them about how it's industry standard for companies to provide financial help for relocation- that should also give you a good idea how serious they are.

Not sure if I'd agree with /r/legaladvice being full of properly qualified people... IMO, it might be better to ask a lawyer.

I believe that to be true, but it's a fact that it's impossible to tell the real lawyers apart from the 12 year old armchair ones. It's probably safer to avoid that place.

FYI: Its a good idea to pool your cash with some colleges in the same situation to pay for the legal advice, i have done this before, if you have all have the same questions and scenario there is no need for you all to pay multiple times for the same advice.

I agree. I've been in some strange stock option situations and 3 of us hired a tax accountant to investigate everything and help us file the additional paperwork properly. It cost us about $500 but it was better advice than the questionable advice we were getting from our startup's finance person.

Good advice, also done this myself.

I think this is good advice, I'd also start finding and backing up any emails, call logs and other documents that discuss your contract/agreements for remote work as they're likely some of the first things a lawyer would ask to see

Be very careful with this. An engineer uploaded company files to his personal Dropbox his first week and they fired and sued him. They monitor aggressively.

[0] https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-tesla-suing-an-ex...

Your contracts aren't company property.

If you have a signed NDA, it may cover disclosure of agreements such as employment contracts.

The key word there being “disclosure”, if you aren’t telling someone else, you aren’t violating an NDA.

So don't put them up on Facebook. We're talking about keeping a copy of your own contract.

NDAs don't exclude legal review by a lawyer.

I'd say downloading your contract and employment logs and downloading 26,000 files is a different thing.

You can always take a picture with your personal phone.

Thank you. I do have generous relocation expenses in my contract. It's just the timing that they are trying to change. They have been stern that there is no flexibility in relocating after August, but I will bring that up again.

Sounds like they are really trying to force you to quit to avoid severance.

Personally, I wouldn't want to work there anymore, but would force them to lay me off.

I definitely wouldn't post on legaladvice. Too popular of a sub; too many people playing lawyer; because this is Tesla and Musk, too many polarizing talking points.

Spend the money; get a real lawyer.

How do I contact a lawyer on short notice with relevant expertise? Should I look for lawyers where Tesla is based or where I am based remotely? Google isn't helping much.

Finding lawyers is surprisingly hard. I had to find one for a land dispute in California and this was my starting point: https://www.courts.ca.gov/selfhelp-findlawyer.htm?rdeLocaleA...

Ymmv, but it’s got some good general recommendations (eg contact the bar assoc) along with California specific ones. Good luck!

If you can get a referral that's probably best, but if you can't, Google "employment lawyer" and look for someone with good reviews. You want someone in the state your employment agreement is governed by. It should say in the agreement. That failing I'd start with someone where they are based. When you call to setup an appointment they will ask if there are any deadlines and try to fit you in if they can.

I'll also note the state bar can refer you to one, but they probably charge a fee, and can be relatively slow.

Second the suggestion to try the State Bar. In some states lawyers will do a low cost (set fee) (short) initial consultation. Generally called Lawyer Referral Service and within a Public section of the state bar's website.

No fee to use the service in my state.

Your local bar association almost certainly has a referral service. First consultation is under $100 around here.

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