A lawsuit against Elon Musk's Tesla detailing how its workplace keeps a "rampant" sexual harassment environment will continue in Court after a California judge rejected the automaker's motion for arbitration, reported first by Bloomberg on Tuesday, May 25.
"Ambushed by Tesla"
Even though the female worker responsible for bringing up the lawsuit signed an arbitration agreement at Tesla, which terminates her rights to sue, the case will continue, according to Alameda Country Superior Court Judge Stephen Klaus.
The worker is Jessica Barraza, who filed the lawsuit last year, claiming that she experienced catcalling, lewd comments, and inappropriate touching during her tenure as a production associate at Tesla's Fremont, California factory.
After filing the case, at least seven more female employees have come forward to file sexual harassment complaints, with some of the former workers alleging that Musk's suggestive tweets worsened the sexual misconduct in the company.
According to a copy of the court documents provided online by The Verge, Judge Kaus said that Tesla's arbitration policies ambushed Barraza and that the company did not imply that "she would have to agree to arbitrate employment claims" and ultimately surrender her right to a jury trial.
Bloomberg pointed out that President Joe Biden already signed a bill last March that would end forced arbitrations in sexual assault cases, but the law is not retroactive, and since the case began before the bill was enacted into law, it cannot be used.
Tesla has a history of employing mandatory arbitration to settle employee conflicts, and they have won a majority of these cases.
Barraza detailed in a class-action complaint that she received "nightmarish" conditions being a night-shift worker at Tesla's Fremont, California, plant. She claimed that co-workers and even supervisors were repeatedly giving her lewd comments and gestures. Additionally, she claimed to complain to human resources and supervisors, but they failed to act on her grievances.
Kaus said in his ruling that the company never presented the arbitration agreement until after Barraza left her previous job since she believed that she was employed by Tesla and had fulfilled all the required paperwork.
"Tesla either orchestrated this sequence of events on purpose or was unacceptably indifferent to the situation in which this placed Barraza," Kaus wrote in the ruling.
Read Also : Tesla Has Convinced Judge to Reduce the $137 Million Payment for its Racial Abuse Lawsuit
"Victory for Public Accountability"
David Lowe, Barraza's attorney, said in a statement that the ruling is "a victory for public accountability." Lowe added that Tesla will not be able to "hide behind the closed doors of confidential arbitration" but will instead face accountability from Barraza's peers in a public courtroom.
The ruling is not good news for the company since Musk is also facing sexual misconduct allegations after a report from the Insider detailed how the billionaire allegedly exposed his private genitalia to a female flight attendant and propositioned her to have sex.
The report also claimed that SpaceX gave the attendant a $250,000 severance agreement before she complained to the management.
However, Musk has denied the accusation, along with SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell calling the report "false" in a company-wide email to workers.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
