Tesla CEO Elon Musk Allegedly Pushed Former Employee, Company Denies 'Any Physical Altercation'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk allegedly pushed a former Tesla employee who'd resigned and was attempting to say goodbye to co-workers, a media report claims.

"Elon did exit an employee at our Fremont delivery centre last year due to concerns about his performance, however there was no physical altercation whatsoever," a Tesla representative said in a statement to Roadshow by CNET on Friday, responding to a Bloomberg report about incident that cited people familiar with the matter. 

"Musk made physical contact with the staffer in a heated confrontation that drew the attention of other employees and spilled into a hallway and later the parking lot, the people said. [..] The employee told people that Musk had pushed him, an account corroborated by others with knowledge of the incident. Another person described it as a tap or light touch," the report claimed.

The Bloomberg report adds that the alleged incident was enough to prompt Tesla's board launching an inquiry into the behaviour of its former chairperson and found that there was no evidence of a physical altercation. Musk was also alleged to have sworn at the staffer and ordered him to leave the premises immediately.

"The board concluded there was no “physical altercation,” though it didn't specifically address the allegation of physical contact or verbal haranguing," the report claimed.

"Those reports are simply untrue as confirmed by numerous people that observed the incident first-hand," the CNET report added.

This is the latest in a series of reports of Musk yelling at and firing staffers. In December 2018 some Tesla employees were told told not to walk past his desk in case it jeopardised their career, the Wired had reported.

Written with inputs from IANS