Tesla has been asked to pay nearly $3.2 million on Monday (April 3) in a racial discrimination case, which was bought to court by a former black employee.
Diaz reportedly worked at the assembly plant in Fremont, California and the company for violating a California law that prohibits employers from failing to address hostile work environments.
The court filing revealed that Diaz said that Tesla turned a blind eye to racism at the Silicon Valley plant. A federal jury found that Diaz was subjected to a racially hostile work environment when he worked at the plant as a lift operator from 2015 to 2016 at its Fremont factory.
He alleged that he was subjected to racial slurs, including the N-word, on the Fremont factory floor. He also mentioned that he saw racist graffiti in bathrooms and a racially insensitive cartoon.
WATCH | Australia to ban TikTok on government devices
The verdict by the San Francisco jury in the retrial was a victory of sorts for Tesla, which had been ordered to pay Owen Diaz $137 million by a jury when the original trial ended in October 2021.
A judge later reduced the amount in keeping with legal standards, but Diaz rejected the judge’s proffered damages amount in favour of a new trial.
The suit, originally filed by Diaz, his son, and a third former employee said that instead of a modern workplace, the plaintiffs “encountered a scene straight from the Jim Crow era”.
Diaz had also claimed that Tesla took no action over the regular racist abuse despite complaints to supervisors.
(With inputs from agencies)
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.