Tesla dealership. Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock

Tesla faces a whistleblower suit from a former employee who says the upscale electric car maker fired him for complaining about damaged vehicles that were fixed up and sold as new.

Adam Williams of Lumberton, New Jersey, filed the suit in Burlington County Superior Court in January, and a lawyer for Tesla removed it to federal court in Camden on Friday.

Tesla has vehemently denied the allegations in the complaint and contended that Williams is not entitled to any recovery, the company said in its notice of removal. However, the company concedes that the District Court's jurisdictional level of $75,000 in controversy has been met. Tesla said in its removal notice that Williams' salary at the time of dismissal was $120,000. If the case were to proceed to trial in one year, Williams' back pay would be $180,000, the company said.

Williams, who worked at the company's showroom in Springfield, New Jersey, brought his suit under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act. He asserts that the company made high-dollar, predelivery damage repairs to its vehicles without disclosure to buyers. Williams also reported to bosses that Tesla's practice of selling cars designated as “lemons” as used cars, demos or loaners was illegal or fraudulent.

Williams joined Tesla in 2011. He says he first made the reports about sale of damaged vehicles in late 2016 to his supervisor, Matt Farrell; vice president, Jerome Guillen, and Lenny Peake, an East Coast regional manager.

In early 2017, Williams was demoted from regional manager to service manager by Brian Applegate, a director for Tesla who is the boss of Farrell and Peake. Applegate told Williams he has a “brand” at Tesla and that there is no place for him in the company, the suit claims.

In July 2017, Williams was again demoted to the position of mobile manager, despite performing his job duties up to the expectations of the company, his suit claims. And in September 2017, Williams was terminated by Albert Grice, who told him the decision was made by Applegate, according to the suit. The stated reason for his termination was performance, but he was performing up to expectations, the suit claims.

Tesla spokeswoman Gina Antonini said in a statement about the case, “There's no merit to this lawsuit. Mr. Williams' description of how Tesla sells used or loaner vehicles is totally false and not how we do things at Tesla. It's also at odds with the fact that we rank highest in customer satisfaction of any car brand, with more owners saying they'd buy a Tesla again than any other manufacturer. Mr. Williams was terminated at Tesla for performance reasons, not for any other reason.”

Toni Telles of Eric Shore's office in Voorhees, New Jersey, who filed the suit, did not return a call. Alexa Nelson of Littler Mendelson in Philadelphia, who represents Tesla, also did not return a call, but a spokeswoman for the law firm, Jenae Journot, said the firm is unable to comment on client matters.