Self-driving car LIDAR stalwart Velodyne sued for sacking a third of its staff claiming coronavirus was the cause
- Reference: 1586433545
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/09/lidarr_velodyne_sacking/
- Source link:
Velodyne Lidar fired more than 33 per cent of its staff working at its headquarters based in San Jose, USA, we're told. The layoffs came as a shock to more than 140 of its employees, who were only given one day's notice, it is claimed.
The company blamed the layoffs on the coronavirus outburst, but its employees argued the advanced-tech biz is using the pandemic as an excuse to conveniently slash its US workforce so that it can shift more of its operations overseas to cut costs.
"While Velodyne's written notice told employees that the layoffs were caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, that representation is not consistent with Velodyne’s recent business activities," the [1]lawsuit [PDF], filed in California, stated.
Former Googler Anthony Levandowski 'fesses up to pinching trade secrets about self-driving cars [2]READ MORE
“Velodyne had already begun transferring production jobs overseas beginning in the summer of 2019 and had planned to continue doing so prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Velodyne's written notice failed to provide employees with a reason for why it was giving them just one day's notice, when a layoff was reasonably foreseeable before that time."
Benjamin Siers, a production engineer at Velodyne, filed the class-action lawsuit this month on behalf of himself and his fellow colleagues who were let go.
Siers reckons Velodyne's mass layoff is unlawful as it violates the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification [3](WARN) Act , which states workers must be given 60 days' written notice if 50 to 499 employees are terminated or if the total number is equivalent to at least 33 per cent of its full-time staff.
Now, he is asking Velodyne to cough up cash to pay their unpaid wages, as well as any commissions, bonuses, accrued holiday pays, 401K contributions, and other benefits that would have been paid under the WARN act.
Velodyne, founded in 1983 by David Hall, was at first focused on building subwoofers. As interest in autonomous vehicles [4]snowballed , a separate company known as Velodyne Lidar was set up in 2016. It supplies companies testing self-driving cars with an imaging system that uses spinning lasers to build a 3D map of the vehicle's surroundings.
The firm's main R&D facilities are based in San Jose and Alameda, California. It also has sales offices in the US Midwest and the East Coast, as well as in Asia and Europe.
Velodyne Lidar was not immediately available for comment. ®
Sponsored: [5]Forrester Build a Digital Experience Portfolio
[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2020/04/09/siers_vs_velodyne_court_document.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/20/anthony_levandowski_pleads_guilty/
[3] https://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/Layoff_Services_WARN.htm
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/18/lidar_backlog/
[5] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8554/forrester-build-a-digital-experience-portfolio?td=wptl1936
And that entitles them to shit on employees already limited rights?
It's America so this is normal - I agree that it's not a good thing to do but the only "rights" that an employee has are the rights to look for another job and, if they feel they need it, buy health insurance.
Or rely on TrumpCare.
TrumpCare? Isn't that where the patient is led round the back of the barn and shot with a captive bolt gun?
So they are outsourcing a lot of work overseas?
I'm just going to get some popcorn and sit back and wait for the show to begin!
There must be a lot of competent techs and engineers in India, but I've never worked for any firm in the US that bothered to find them. They ALWAYS found the lowest-bidder-knows-English-over-any-technical-skills group of lazy idiots. Look to Boeing and the sh*tshow that was their recent Starliner test flight for confirmation.
The List
You can add GE to that list of confirmed administration idiots.
I have to deal with sensor input modules for current transmitters that use precision shunt resistors at 10 ohms when rule of thumb is 250 ohms. Designed and built in India. Latest generation with completely incompatible physical configuration? Same 10 ohm shunts.
Velodyne is not a big company, the government is promising a lot of financial support in the US but the bulk of the money is going to go to large companies who have a large staff of lawyers and accountants to chase the money, plus they will have a record of political contributions to generate high-level support.
Small companies have lawyers and accountants too, but they are very busy running around in circles at the moment just trying to stay in afloat and will be at the bottom of the pile of applications for the financial support. If you are a small company then selling the company may be the only way to stay alive.
Remember too that this is America, the Republicans have cut back on the California emission laws and electric vehicle rebates. The funds are all going to be applied to support large car/truck companies and the oil industry, so Velodyne are not going to see much new business after this mess is over.