Tesla to pay ex-worker $137 million for racial abuse
A U.S. court has fined Tesla $137 million in damages over racial harassment of one of its workers.
Tesla will pay the multimillion-dollar fine to ex-staff Owen Diaz for allowing racial abuse to fester at its auto plant in Fremont, California.
Bloomberg reported the court ordered the electric carmaker to pay the fine after the court on Monday established that Mr Diaz, a Black former elevator operator who joined Tesla in 2015, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment.
Mr Diaz, in his suit against Tesla, alleged that employees of the electric car-making company drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the Tesla plant, adding that they frequently used the “N-word” and other racist sobriquets.
“Tesla’s progressive image was a façade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees,” Mr Diaz in the suit said.
Mr Diaz told the court that he had “sleepless nights” and weight loss occasioned by the loss of appetite he suffered due to the racial abuses.
Hired through a staffing agency in 2015, Mr Diaz worked at Tesla’s Fremont plant in 2015 and 2016, where he suffered series of racial abuses.
Reacting to the court verdict Valerie Capers Workman, the organisation’s vice president, downplayed the allegations, saying that racial language spoken at the organisation plant was used in a friendly manner.
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