Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been ordered to pay US$130mln in damages to a Black former worker who experienced racism in the workplace in 2015 and 2016.
A jury in San Francisco ruled that the electric vehicles producer failed to make sure that the contract employee, Owen Diaz, was not racially harassed while he worked at the Tesla Fremont factory.
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Diaz was also awarded US$6.9mln in compensatory damages by the jury after it emerged that people used racial slurs and drew racist graffiti in the bathrooms at the plant.
This will get a tiny fraction of the attention of Grimes and Space X. If the 21st century tech magnates are so brilliant and innovative how come their companies are as riven with racism as the 20th century old-timey manufacturing companies. https://t.co/yii7GaDiJR
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) October 5, 2021
Tesla noted that Diaz “never worked” for the company but was “a contract employee who worked for Citistaff and nextSource”, adding it stepped in the three times that he complained about harassment.
“While we strongly believe that these facts don’t justify the verdict reached by the jury in San Francisco, we do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect. We’re still not perfect. But we have come a long way from five years ago,” Valerie Capers Workman, VP People, told staff in a note shared on the firm’s website.
“We continue to grow and improve in how we address employee concerns. Occasionally, we’ll get it wrong, and when that happens we should be held accountable.”
Shares rose 1% to US$789.68 in premarket trading.