Merry Christmas from Nissan! What better way to get in the holiday spirit than finding out you’ve been fired from your job via an email, or in some cases, from a press release?
That, according to a story by racing reporter Marshall Pruett in Road & Track, is what happened to the 40 or so Indianapolis-based employees of Nissan’s now-shuttered and long-struggling LMP1 program. Just a week ago the car had been testing at the NOLA circuit in Louisiana.
We alluded to this email in an update on our initial report, but Pruett has more details now. It adds that many employees who were out for the holidays had to learn from a press release on Nissan’s PR website:
Approximately 40 employees at the Indianapolis-based LMP1 program were notified by e-mail the program had been cancelled Tuesday morning, yet with many of the staffers on vacation for the holidays and away from work e-mail, news of the firing, for many, came from a press release the Japanese brand decided to post in its global newsroom.
Those who did turn up for work Tuesday morning were barred access to the building, and senior team officials, who were also caught by surprise, stepped in to call and inform (or confirm) the sudden dismissals for all who worked at the facility.
What a class act Nissan is. We reached out to the automaker to ask why this decision was made and will update this post if we hear back.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.