A former Tesla executive says he agreed to take a job working remotely for the electric carmaker, which then almost immediately went back on its word and threatened to fire him if he didn’t relocate from his home in Southern California — allegedly prompting the recurrence of an agonizing medical condition and threatening his marriage.

In a lawsuit filed last month in state court and moved to federal court on Wednesday, compliance and operational risk specialist Mike Tully accuses Tesla of a heartless bait-and-switch after “being promised and assured” he wouldn’t be required to move. The Irvine resident only accepted the position because of this guarantee, which came via his new boss, Associate General Counsel Charles Lee, according to the previously unreported complaint.

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When they subsequently reneged on the pledge, Tully, whose wife threatened to divorce him if he insisted on uprooting her and their two children, felt “completely blindsided and misled by Tesla and its leadership team,” the complaint says.

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The stress of the situation exacerbated Tully’s Crohn’s and Irritable Bowel Disease, which had rarely acted up during his tenure at BofA, according to the complaint. Flareups were now becoming increasingly common, causing inflammation and intestinal blockage that led to septic attacks and toxic buildup in his system, and leaving Tully bedridden, in agonizing pain, for days on end, the complaint says.