Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.
The break is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and running during the same period last year, they said.
The electric vehicle maker notified employees earlier this week. The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.
The workers said their schedules had been increasingly inconsistent since February. Some said they had been sent home early on multiple occasions.
In February, the Austin factory began cracking down on overtime hours, the workers said. Two said they were told by management that if they clocked overtime hours, they could eventually face disciplinary action.
A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
In April, BI reported that Tesla had reduced production targets for the Cybertruck and moved some of its workers off the line. The carmaker also shut down Cybertruck production for three days in December.
Earlier this month, Trigo, a company that contracts workers for the Tesla factory, laid off 50 employees who worked at the Austin facility, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice issued by the Texas Workforce Commission.
A spokesperson for Trigo did not respond to a request for comment.
In April, Elon Musk’s carmaker reported a 13% drop in deliveries year over year. During the first quarter, Tesla reported it produced nearly 26,000 more EVs than it delivered, even after a drop in production of nearly 100,000 vehicles compared with the previous quarter.
Tesla’s stock is down about 26% year to date. Musk said during an event with President Donald Trump in March that Tesla would double its vehicle production rates in the US over the next two years.
The company released a refreshed version of the Model Y, its most popular vehicle, in January, but there have been signs it’s not selling as well as previous refreshes. It began offering discounts on the car in April, and it released a cheaper version of the EV on Tuesday.
As of March 20, the company had delivered fewer than 50,000 Cybertrucks, a voluntary recall notice said.
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