Couldn't Tesla / SolarCity just said, "Hey, company didn't do well, sorry, here's 2 weeks severance"? Why do this whole "bad performance review" nonsense.
It has dropped ~$25 since the start of the week. It's down $64 from its all-time high.
What are they going to do, say "no, you owe these people jobs, go take out a loan?" Well, maybe if the company can't demonstrate that they actually need to drop so many people, but this sort of seems like they're being lazy and cheap, at best.
Y'know, it's starting to really seem like the market simply is not willing to accept how expensive things are.
What they did is basically slander with real economic consequences to those fired and they should sue.
Being fired with cause impacts their ability to collect unemployment, which most these people deserve.
It also puts a bad mark on their employment history, unless they lie about how they where fired.
afaik, performance doesn't impact your benefits in the US, unless it's tied to 'willful misconduct'. if you're (for example) simply incompetent, but honest and good-intentioned, it's entirely the employer's fault for improperly filling the position per their own requirements.
Do companies do it? Usually not.