Saturday 20th November 2021
Women degraded to “objects”?
Employee talks about sexism at Tesla
Just a few weeks ago, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla made negative headlines because of racist incidents at a plant in California. Now an employee reports constant sexual harassment in the same factory. She is suing her employer and demanding high compensation.
An employee has sued the US electric car maker because she and her colleagues say they were constantly exposed to sexual harassment while working at a Tesla plant in California. From the beginning, she worked at the Tesla plant in Fremont in a misogynistic environment, but despite her complaints, management did nothing about it, according to the lawsuit filed by Jessica Barraza.
Tesla’s public assurances “to promote a safe and respectful environment for its employees” are only a facade, said Barraza. At the plant in Fremont, women had experienced a different reality: for three years, their colleagues had been degraded to “objects” every day by their colleagues and sometimes by their superiors, and had been “groped and turned on”.
Although she complained several times to superiors and a representative from the human resources department, nothing was done. On the contrary, she feels that she has been the victim of retaliation. Among other things, she was transferred after a complaint.
The employee doesn’t just want money
The 38-year-old is currently on sick leave due to a post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition to high compensation payments, she wants Tesla to be obliged to take action against sexual harassment with training, controls and disciplinary measures.
The group initially left a request from the AFP news agency for an opinion unanswered. It’s not the first time that Tesla’s Fremont plant has fallen into disrepute. It was only at the beginning of October that a court in San Francisco sentenced the electric car maker to pay an Afro-American employee $ 137 million in damages for racist incidents at the plant. In the case, too, Tesla reportedly did not take any action against the insults, despite reports.