Tesla Prefers Foreign Hires for US Jobs to Cut Costs, Suit Says

Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. favors visa holders for open positions sought by US citizens in a discriminatory bid to save money, a new lawsuit alleges.

The electric vehicle maker has shown a “pervasive pattern and practice of citizenship discrimination” in violation of civil rights law, two US applicants said in a proposed class action filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Friday.

The job candidates, Scott Taub and Sofia Brander, failed to obtain California-based Tesla positions that they said were reserved for foreign workers with visas. Taub applied for a quality assurance engineer role earlier this year; Brander sought human resources jobs in 2023 and 2024.

Tesla can and does pay visa holders less than US workers, Taub and Brander said. Employees who require a visa need a corporate sponsor to live in the US, they said. Securing a new visa sponsor is difficult, giving Tesla leverage to underpay foreign workers, according to Taub and Brander.

“While visa workers make up just a fraction of the United States labor market, Tesla prefers to hire these candidates over U.S. citizens, as it can pay visa-dependent employees less than American employees performing the same work, a practice in the industry known as ‘wage theft,’” Taub and Brander said in their complaint.

A Tesla spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk has been a strong proponent of H-1B visas, which are for specialized occupations, often at technology companies. The billionaire said on X last year that the H1-B program has provided vital workers at Tesla and other companies that “made America strong.”

“I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,” Musk said in the message, which was cited in the complaint.

Kotchen & Low LLP and Yadegar, Minoofar & Soleymani LLP are representing the job applicants.

The case is Taub v. Tesla, Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-07785, complaint filed 9/12/25.