Tesla has reversed course and canceled requests to bring employees back to production lines in Fremont, California, this week.
According to CNBC, Tesla asked dozens of furloughed workers last Friday, and during the weekend, to return on Wednesday, April 29 to resume production in Fremont.
According to the new sent Monday and distributed on some internal message boards, it was written that:
“Per the direction of the executive leadership team, we will not be returning to work Wednesday, April 29. Please disregard all communication and directives on returning to work this week.”
Tesla shares dropped over 1% on the news in after-hours trading, after rising over 10% during the day.
Bloomberg earlier reported that the automaker might have to walk back its plan to allow some workers back in this week.
Health orders in Alameda County, where the Fremont factory is located, need the automaker to operate at minimum basic levels only. Tesla previously stated it would restart production when those orders expired, and the company expected that date to be May 4th.
However, the county prepares to the health orders through the end of May in a quest to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, according to a release issued on Monday.
Tesla is yet to comment on these revealings.
The automaker’s Fremont factory makes its legacy Model S and X vehicles, and newer Model 3 and Y vehicles for delivery to consumers in North America and Europe. Tesla also runs a car plant in China six days a week during these days. It had previously shut down the Shanghai plant for about two weeks amid Covid-19 health orders there but restarted quickly with help from that regional government.
The automaker is expected to report its first-quarter results on Wednesday.
About 1,021,246 people in the US have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus. The virus has killed 57,640 people in the country.
