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A day after Lukasz Krupski put out a hearth at a Tesla automobile supply location in Norway, critically burning his arms and stopping a catastrophe, he obtained an e mail from Elon Musk.
“Congratulations for saving the day!” Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief govt, wrote in March 2019.
However what began as a narrative a couple of heroic worker and a grateful employer has devolved into an epic battle between the carmaker and Mr. Krupski, a service technician. The struggle has spawned lawsuits in Norway and the USA and caught the eye of regulators in a number of international locations.
After initially being hailed as a savior, Mr. Krupski stated in an interview with The New York Instances, he was harassed, threatened and ultimately fired after complaining about what he thought-about grave security issues at his office close to Oslo. Mr. Krupski, initially from Poland, was a part of a crew that helped put together Teslas for consumers however turned so pissed off with the corporate that final yr he handed over reams of knowledge from the carmaker’s pc system to Handelsblatt, a German enterprise newspaper.
The info contained lists of Tesla workers, together with Mr. Musk, usually with their Social Safety numbers and different private info. There have been hundreds of accident experiences and different inside Tesla communications that Handelsblatt used as the idea for tales about flaws with the corporate’s Autopilot driver-assistance software program.
The info additionally offered the idea for tales by Handelsblatt and Wired journal about how a lot hassle Tesla was having manufacturing the Cybertruck pickup, which the corporate has stated will likely be delivered to prospects on the finish of this month, nearly three years not on time. (A few of the info got here from a second, unidentified Tesla worker.)
Mr. Krupski stated he had gotten entry to delicate information just by getting into search phrases in an inside firm web site, elevating questions on how Tesla protected the privateness of hundreds of workers and its personal secrets and techniques.
The Information Safety Authority within the Netherlands, the place Tesla has its European headquarters, is investigating whether or not the breach violated privateness legal guidelines. A spokeswoman for the authority confirmed that it was investigating however declined to remark additional.
Tesla and three attorneys representing the corporate didn’t reply to requests for remark.
In the USA, Benson Pai, a former Tesla manufacturing employee, has sued the automaker in federal court docket in California, claiming that lax safety by Tesla uncovered worker info that might be offered to criminals. Legal professionals for Mr. Pai are looking for approval from a decide to pursue the case as a category motion on behalf of tens of hundreds of Tesla workers.
Mr. Krupski shared the information with Aaron Greenspan, a distinguished Tesla critic and short-seller, who urged him to offer info he had collected about Autopilot to the U.S. Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration. The security company has had a long-running investigation into the software program, which may steer, speed up and cease a automobile by itself however requires a driver to be able to take management at any second. The company has interviewed Mr. Krupski a number of instances, he stated, a sign that his info was taken critically.
Mr. Greenspan stated he had begun closing out his brief positions in Tesla shortly after listening to from Mr. Krupski.
The U.S. security company has confirmed that it’s investigating whether or not Autopilot performed a task in a whole lot of accidents, some deadly, however declined to touch upon any interactions with Mr. Krupski. Tesla has maintained that Autopilot makes vehicles safer and not too long ago prevailed towards a lawsuit that had claimed the software program was liable for a deadly crash in California.
Mr. Krupski and Mr. Greenspan additionally wrote a letter to the Securities and Alternate Fee elevating questions on Tesla’s accounting practices, based mostly partly on the information Mr. Krupski had collected. He stated he didn’t know what the fee had completed with the knowledge.
The S.E.C. didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Krupski remained nameless till he spoke on the report to Handelsblatt final week.
Within the interview with The Instances, Mr. Krupski, 38, stated he was unemployed and had exhausted his financial savings. He has served Tesla with formal discover that he intends to sue for compensation, however can not pursue the case additional till he scrapes collectively sufficient cash to pay a lawyer. In contrast to attorneys in the USA, attorneys in Norway usually are not allowed to work on fee, amassing a share of any award in the event that they win however nothing in the event that they lose.
Tormod Tingstad, an Oslo lawyer, is representing Mr. Krupski freed from cost whereas they attempt to increase cash.
None of this might have been foreseen on March 30, 2019, when Mr. Krupski, who had been employed just a few months earlier, was a part of a crew summoned on brief discover to arrange Teslas for supply to prospects in Norway, the place electrical autos account for greater than 80 p.c of recent automobile gross sales.
Tesla, which sells vehicles on to consumers, was utilizing house in an exhibition corridor close to Oslo to ship autos. Hundreds of individuals have been visiting a motor present in the identical advanced.
Round midday, a charging system that one other worker had improperly modified burst into flames beneath a Mannequin 3 sedan. Mr. Krupski yanked the system away and, along with his naked arms, pulled out wiring, pipes and different elements that have been burning and melting. He used rags and towels to suffocate the flames.
“It’s honest to say that if it wasn’t for his motion, the outcome would have been a automobile on hearth,” Mr. Krupski’s supervisor wrote in an e mail to Mr. Musk the following day. Mr. Krupski stated the fireplace may have unfold, endangering staff and prospects ready close by and forcing evacuation of the motor present.
The one particular person critically injured was Mr. Krupski, who was hospitalized with extreme burns however has recovered.
After Mr. Musk congratulated Mr. Krupski, the technician replied with complaints about security practices at Tesla’s Norwegian operation. On the day of the fireplace, he wrote, there have been no hearth extinguishers, cardboard packing containers and different flammable materials have been strewn about, and workers weren’t briefed about the place they might be working.
“OK, please let me know if there’s something we should always nonetheless do,” Mr. Musk replied, in line with a duplicate of the e-mail included in authorized paperwork ready by Mr. Tingstad.
However Mr. Krupski’s direct communications with the Tesla chief govt didn’t sit effectively along with his bosses in Norway. In response to Mr. Krupski, his supervisor started questioning his efficiency and telling him he had no future at Tesla.
“Lengthy story brief I’m being fired,” Mr. Krupski wrote to Mr. Musk in late April 2019, lower than 4 weeks after the fireplace. Mr. Musk replied, “I can’t learn emails except vital to Tesla.” That was the top of their correspondence.
Within the months that adopted, Mr. Krupski stated, he was threatened and harassed by co-workers and exiled to a basement. One co-worker threatened to stab him within the again with a screwdriver, he stated. Mr. Krupski and different staff have been furloughed in the course of the pandemic, and he missed work due to stress-related well being issues. Then, in 2022, he was fired after being accused of unhealthy habits and poor time administration, and of being a unfavourable affect.
His bosses additionally stated Mr. Krupski had taken photos at a Tesla facility in violation of firm coverage. He stated he had taken pictures to doc issues of safety, which included use of a rolling desk that workers put beneath a automobile when eradicating a battery. The desk was designed to bear a most of 500 kilograms (about 1,100 kilos), Mr. Krupski stated, whereas the batteries weighed considerably extra. If a desk collapsed, he stated, staff might be critically injured or killed.
In a letter to Mr. Krupski’s lawyer, a Norwegian legislation agency representing Tesla stated the corporate would dispute that he had been topic to retaliation. The letter accused Mr. Krupski of misappropriating firm info and threatened to hunt damages from him.
Tesla has obtained an injunction from a Norwegian court docket ordering Mr. Krupski to not distribute any extra firm info. The court docket additionally seized his laptop computer and turned it over to Tesla. The corporate notified workers of the information breach on Aug. 18, about three months after it realized that Handelsblatt had the knowledge.
Info together with work e mail addresses, compensation and Social Safety numbers might need been leaked, Tesla instructed workers in an e mail, however stated, “We now have no proof that any private info was misused or will likely be utilized in a way that might hurt you.”
Mr. Krupski stated that he had suffered from despair, anxiousness and sleeplessness on account of his battle with Tesla, however that he felt relieved to now not be nameless.
“I really feel like simply by going public I’ve a brand new rush of vitality,” he stated. “I’ve motivation that, OK, I can possibly begin constructing my life once more.”
Noam Scheiber contributed reporting.
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