China-Based Microvast Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Mass Layoffs At Clarksville Facility
Image Credit: Microvast Inc. / Facebook & Canva
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Microvast, the China-based electric vehicle battery producer, is now facing a class-action lawsuit after a string of sudden layoffs at their Clarksville facility.
According to the lawsuit, Microvast allegedly violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act by failing to provide employees with a minimum 60-day notice before enacting a number of layoffs.
The plaintiff, identified as Deidra Milan, filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and “those similarly situated after she was on April 19, 2024. 44 others were also let go at the same time, with terminations continuing up until May 17. The lawsuit states that more than a third of Microvasts employees were terminated.
The lawsuit alleges that Microvast violated the WARN Act by letting those employees go without giving them notice. It also notes that many of the employees had relocated to the Clarksville area because of that employment.
In February 2021, Microvast announced plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Clarksville, vowing to create approximately 300 jobs for the area. While the facility remains unfinished, the company has begun to decrease their production plans as they seek an additional $150 million worth of funding to complete it.
Microvast told Clarksville Now that they are still committed to hiring 230 workers by 2025, but it is unclear just how they intend to do so when they are getting rid of employees across all of their facilities, not just the new Clarksville location.
“Once a financing solution is in place, we will resume operations to finish the project, including hiring of appropriate staff,” Microvast officials stated.
The lawsuit will cover all employees who were laid off within 90 days of April 19, 2024.
EV is a joke. Tennessee got played.
Not a Chinese Based Company, based in Houston Texas since 2006, with manufacturing in China and Germany! LIKE MANY OTHER US TECH COMPANIES! They were trying to get that factory going in Tenn
( yes, bring new manufacturing jobs to America ) with many Veteran employees, but with Media and Politicians labeling them Chinese, you people have hurt those Veterans working there! Nice work, typical media and news reporting, without all the true facts!!
Geo Raim is spot on. This “Tennessee Conservative News” story is the usual misinformation hit piece, dripping in prevarications; excluding key facts and misrepresenting others. Take 10 minutes and do some reading to realize this “Tennessee Conservative News” organization or at least the author of this article has a serious problem with journalistic integrity. But then again, so did Goebbels.
If you know someone who was affected by the layoffs, you can blame the DOE for not assisting them in getting Clarksville plant up and running before running out of funds. The DOE pulled 200 million and made it so MVST was short money. My cousin was laid off.
Unfortunately this is what happens when a government agency reverses a decision to award grant money very very late in the day, when the company has already placed orders for its new facility. Again, political pressure from a few has actually harmed the masses In Tennessee. Such a shame. When is the state going to get some backbone and stick up for the companies trying to increase the states profile, bring jobs and help veterans?
The US complains about advancing tech in other countries, but unless they invest in US based companies, the divide will get bigger. The fact is that Microvast was trying to bring new technologies to the US from its R&D developed abroad. Let’s hope some cool heads prevail and the state announces some support.
Oil/gas conservative Barrasso worked really well for his sponsors, mixing this company’s name with manure. As the result, weak dems in DOE recalled the huge grant for this company, stock price dropped so low and company is unable to secure any additional funding in the US. One day conservatives would understand that steps like this don’t help America to secure any manufacturing, but it will be too late.
exactly ,, this company was railroaded , taking away its 200 million for providing essential separtator tech a product for batteries a key component in battery tech to ward off fires within its chemistry ,, labeling it a Chinese company when it had official offices in Texas for years and Colorado and Florida ( not quite as long) .. They have proven product that bought in Europe, India, China and other countries. just remember how much business Apple and Telsla produces in and sells in China.. nuff said ….
More like the US is in last place when it comes to high tech manufacturing. An opportunity to bring it back presents itself and then republicans kill the funding. Now everyone’s surprised everybody ended up getting fired. What a joke!
Get your facts straight:
Microvast is a US-based company.
That’s a simple fact that can be verified by every 10-year old.
So the title of your article is likely not a mistake, but a blatant lie.
So much for professional journalism here.