QUESTION: A family member of mine needs a job. There is an opening for a store manager at the Tesla dealership in Rishon L’Tzion. I ask, because recently, a Reuter’s article claimed that Tesla actively misrepresented the driving range of its electric vehicles by saying its cars could drive twice as far between charges as they could in reality. The article further reported that Tesla even created a dedicated team specifically designed to thwart customer efforts to schedule appointments to get help with understanding why their Teslas were not getting the driving distance between charges that they were expecting. Is it permitted to work for such a company?
ANSWER: There are two matters to discuss. The first matter is whether you can trust the Reuters article and act on the information provided. The second matter, is whether one can work for such a company assuming it is true.
It is generally accepted that Reuters is generally a reputable source for news and has the requisite journalistic integrity to be relied upon unless there is evidence to the contrary.
According to Vavei HaAmudim (Vol. #104, Siman 1. Av 5782) it is forbidden to work for a dishonest firm unless one is allowed to be fully transparent. So in the case of the Tesla dealership, one would have to admit to the buyer that the driving range claim is not accurate to be able to work there.
Regarding the verse in Parashas Mishpatim (Shemos 23:7) “Midvar Sheker Tirchak” — stay away from a false matter, there is a three-way debate as to how we understand this verse. The Chofetz Chaim rules in his Ahavas Chesed that there is an out-and-out prohibition to lie. This is in accordance with the view of some Rishonim (early Halachic commentaries). Other Rishonim believe that the Torah is merely advising one not to lie because it is not an admirable practice, but one is not prohibited from doing so. A third opinion believes that the biblical prohibition is limited to judges when they adjudicate the law as that is the circumstance that the Torah is discussing in the verse when it mentions the prohibition of staying away from falsehood. Generally speaking, the view of the Chofetz Chaim (that there is a biblical prohibition to lie) is normative Halacha.
However, there are some Halachic authorities that will give dispensation under pressing circumstances to follow a view other than the Chofetz Chaim’s.
However, not in this case. In the case of Tesla, the lie of the driving range of the car is being using to sell a car under false pretenses – if customers that are buying Teslas really knew the true number of miles they could drive between charges, many would not purchase the car. Accordingly, this untruthful claim is being used to extract money unfairly from customers and is full-fledged theft. In such a case, no one would permit working at the Tesla dealership unless as outlined above, one discloses to the buyer that the driving range claim is not truthful.
