Wednesday, December 15, 2021
“Sexual harassment normal”
Ex-employees are suing Tesla
Whistling, grabbing, verbal abuse – everyday life at Tesla, say six former employees. Now they are filing a lawsuit against their previous employer. You are not the first women to suggest that the company has a serious problem with sexism.
Other former employees have sued the US electric car maker Tesla for constant sexual harassment in the workplace. As reported by lawyers David Lowe and William Jhaveri-Weeks, the six ex-workers from the US state of California described an environment “in which it is normal to whistle at them, eye them, inappropriately touched and make advances”. Five of the women worked at a Fremont facility and another at a service center.
Just last month, an ex-employee at the Fremont factory filed a complaint about ongoing sexual harassment. Last week, another victim followed suit. “So many similar experiences show that it is a systemic problem at Tesla,” said lawyer Jhaveri-Weeks. Accordingly, male colleagues asked women, among other things, to have sex. Employees who accepted advances were also given preferential treatment by their superiors.
According to the lawsuit, statements by Tesla boss Elon Musk are also said to have been the cause of harassment. The latter has often emphasized that the Tesla models S, 3, X and Y taken together could be read as “sexy” – employees took this up to “call everything sexy,” said one of the plaintiffs.
Tesla is silent
Tesla did not respond to the latest allegations when asked. The company often has to contend with complaints from former employees. As recently as October, a California jury awarded a black ex-employee $ 137 million in damages for ignoring ongoing racist incidents.
There are also allegations of a misogynistic corporate culture at Musk’s space company SpaceX. A former engineer wrote on the Internet that despite numerous reports of sexual harassment, the company had done nothing. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 50-year-old Musk was named personality of the year by the US magazine “Time” on Monday. Musk is celebrated by many as a genius and visionary. However, he also repeatedly creates negative headlines with provocative tweets.