Tesla ordered to pay over $130 mln to Black former worker over racism -WSJ
Oct 4 (Reuters) – A federal jury on Monday has ordered Tesla Inc to pay greater than $130 million in damages to a Black former employee named Owen Diaz, discovering he was subjected to a racially hostile work atmosphere, the Wall Road Journal .
The jury decided that the corporate didn’t take cheap steps to stop Diaz, a contract employee who labored as an elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont manufacturing facility in 2015 and 2016, from being racially harassed, the newspaper added.
Tesla and its attorneys didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark. Diaz’s legal professionals additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Earlier than the trial started, presiding decide William Orrick rejected efforts by Tesla to exclude one juror from the jury, saying he believed the try was primarily based on race and “purposefully discriminatory.”
Final yr, the electrical carmaker disclosed in its first U.S. range report that Black workers make up simply 4% of Tesla’s American management roles and 10% of its whole workforce within the nation.
The trial was heard on the U.S District Court docket, Northern District of California.
Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru; Modifying by Edwina Gibbs
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