Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been ordered by a San Francisco federal jury to pay US$3mln in punitive damages and US$175,000 in non-economic damages to a former employee after it was determined he endured a racially hostile work environment.
Owen Diaz, a black man, was a former elevator operator at the electric vehicle (EV) company and was hired as a contract worker in 2015.
Diaz was awarded a verdict of US$137mln in 2021 after a jury determined he had suffered civil rights violations at Tesla, which failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the racism.
However, the two sought a retrial after a judge reduced the amount to US$15mln.
Colleagues of Diaz reportedly used racist language, made him feel unsafe, told him to “go back to Africa”, left racist graffiti in restrooms and racist drawings in his workspace.
Tesla has been sued more than 200 times by current or former contractors since 2018 in the US, according to CNBC.
This figure does not take account of the number of disputes which have gone straight to arbitration, a method that Tesla compels employees to agree to where it can.