Status: 05.10.2021 6:03 p.m.
The car manufacturer Tesla has to pay a former employee 137 million dollars in compensation for being racially insulted at a plant. That decided a court jury in San Francisco.
A jury in the US state of California ordered the electric car manufacturer Tesla to pay $ 137 million in damages for racist incidents at its plant in Fremont. The verdict was also issued in a court in San Francisco because Tesla is said to have taken no action against the insults, despite reports.
The black man Owen Diaz and his son as well as another former employee of Tesla had sued. Diaz worked as an elevator operator at Tesla in Fremont from June 2015 to July 2016. According to the indictment, he found a hostile work environment there and fell victim to racist surnames and derogatory symbolism.
His son also worked in the factory. Instead of getting to a modern workplace, the plaintiffs “found themselves in one piece straight from the Jim Crow era,” it said. This is what the era of racial segregation is called in the United States.
Tesla rejects allegations
The indictment accused Tesla that its “progressive image” was just a facade. Despite complaints from Diaz to superiors, the car manufacturer did not take care of the racist incidents. Diaz’s attorney, Lawrence Organ, told the Washington Post that it was satisfactory that the jury saw the truth and ordered high compensation. He also praised the fact that the court sees such a large and rich company responsible for combating racism on its own premises.
Tesla itself rejected the racism allegations in the form in which they were raised in the indictment. In addition, these did not justify the judgment made by the jury. At the same time, however, the carmaker admitted that he was “not perfect” at the time Diaz was employed. Other witnesses also testified in court that they regularly heard slurs in Fremont.
Changes after incident
Tesla responded to Diaz’s complaints and fired two employees and suspended another, it said. In addition, there have been extensive innovations since 2016, including teams for more diversity and for handling complaints.
Tesla has a market value of $ 780 billion. Company boss Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world.