Attorneys called his actions "willful and malicious" and said: "Although Tesla's investigation is ongoing, it has already suffered significant and continuing damages as a result of Tripp's misconduct, which it seeks to recover through this action."
No details were given as to representatives for Tripp in the lawsuit, and a lawyer for him could not immediately be reached.
It comes just days after Elon Musk sent a company-wide email accusing an employee of "quite extensive and damaging sabotage", prompting an in-depth investigation into the matter.
However, when asked if Tripp's case had been the sabotage referred to, Musk said: "There is more, but the actions of a few bad apples will not stop Tesla from reaching its goals. With 40,000 people, the worst 1 in 1000 will have issues. That's still ~40 people."
Issues with staff will put further strain on Tesla, as it battles to stay on target with its production, having pushed back goals repeatedly last year.
Tesla is aiming to make 5,000 Model 3 cars per week by the end of this month, and has signalled it looks likely to meet this goal. It had initially been expecting to meet this target by the end of last year, however, and issues with scale-up have hampered its efforts.
