Gabrielle Toledano, who joined Tesla as the Chief People Officer in May 2017 e-mailed Tesla boss, Elon Musk suggesting him to promote employees to prevent them from continuing their advocacy for unionization. 

Toledano acknowledged having suggested, in emails with Musk,  that union supporters to become full-time safety staff rather than “work to pull in the UAW. Toledano also wrote in the mail that “I am confirming now with Legal that if they join the Safety team, then they would then be considered part of management and not eligible to advocate for a union should they accept those roles.”

A regional director of the labor board has affirmed in a complaint that Tesla management violated federal laws by restricting employees from organizing activities, maintaining a strict confidentiality policy that infringed on workers’ rights, and attempting to stop employees from discussing safety issues and retaliating against pro-union workers. 

Toledano who was Tesla’s highest-ranking women reportedly resigned last month from the company while on a leave of absence. Recently, several senior executives have taken extended leaves of absences from Tesla. Doug Field, who had been Senior Vice President for engineering, went on leave in mid-May and didn’t return.