A workers' rights group is alleging contractors and subcontractors violated labor law and employment agreements during the construction of Tesla's $1.1 billion Austin manufacturing facility.

The construction workers are being represented by the Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit that supports low-wage workers in employment disputes. The organization is referring the complaints to the U.S. Department of Labor and to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is commonly known as OSHA.

The workers have alleged that multiple contractors and subcontractors violated their rights in numerous ways involving wage theft, workplace injuries, OSHA violations and the issuance of fraudulent OSHA certificates for training the workers say they never received.

The Workers Defense Project did not provide the names of the subcontractors who are accused, pending a Department of Labor investigation. As a result the American-Statesman was not able to reach out to the subcontractors to respond to the allegations.

Hannah Alexander, an Austin staff attorney for the Workers Defense Project, said her group hopes the federal agencies will investigate, find violations have occurred and remedy the situation.

"We know that those federal agencies have staff that is capable and ready to investigate anything that comes their way. We're just really hoping for a thorough investigation and hopefully, our workers get justice," Alexander said.

Alexander said the allegations are part of...

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