Tesla cited by U.S. regulators over worker's death

(This Feb. 19 story has been refiled to fix a typo in paragraph 6)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal regulators have cited Tesla for violating workplace safety rules in connection with the electrocution of a worker last summer at its Austin, Texas, auto-manufacturing plant.

The U.S. Department of Labor confirmed the findings in a statement to Reuters.

“The investigation is closed and citations have been issued,” said the department, which oversees the agency that conducted the Tesla probe, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Labor Department said the matter was concluded in late January. The department declined to disclose the nature of Tesla's workplace-safety failures or whether any penalties were imposed.

The case has been closely watched amid public debate about the oversight of Tesla and other businesses run by billionaire Elon Musk as he directs a radical overhaul of federal agencies on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump, now steers the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash federal spending and staffing. Musk's businesses, including Tesla and rocket-maker SpaceX, rely heavily on government contracts, subsidies and policies.

OSHA launched the investigation immediately after the August 1 death of Victor Gomez Sr., an electrician working as a contractor at the Tesla plant in Texas, according to OSHA records and a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Tesla by Gomez's family.

Gomez was killed while inspecting electrical panels at the site, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges negligence and argues that the panel was supposed to be inactive but had already been powered up, resulting in Gomez’s electrocution.

Musk and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately access court filings by Tesla in the lawsuit.

On Wednesday, U.S. Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat whose congressional district includes the Tesla plant, sent a letter to the Labor Department urging that OSHA immediately release the full results of its investigation of Gomez’s death. The letter said that a refusal to release public records on Tesla's workplace safety failures could raise questions about whether the agency is giving Musk preferential treatment.

"Americans have a right to know whether Tesla and its contractors put a man’s life at risk, and whether Tesla will follow workplace safety rules going forward," the letter read.

The plant, a 10-million square-foot facility in Austin, Texas, is a manufacturing hub for Tesla’s Model Y vehicles and Cybertrucks.

OSHA records show Tesla was cited and fined about $7,000 for two other workplace safety violations at the Texas plant last year, both involving violations of rules to protect workers from chemical hazards. In 2022, the company also was hit with a pair of complaints claiming that it failed to address alleged workplace-safety and wage-law violations by subcontractors during the construction of the facility.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco and Ned Parker in New York. Editing by Brian Thevenot and Jason Szep.)