Tesla motors is in hot water, this comes after Owen Diaz, a former Black employee and contract elevator operator at Tesla, sued the Company saying he was discriminated against for being Black and even asked to return to Africa.
As a result, a federal jury in San Francisco has ordered that Tesla pay Diaz $137 million in damages.
The lawsuit state, Diaz alleged that he faced discrimination “straight from the Jim Crow era,” in which he was subjected to racial slurs. He alleged that Tesla employees left drawings of swastikas, racist graffiti and offensive cartoons around the plant, while supervisors neglected to halt the abuse. “Tesla’s progressive image was a façade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees,” according to the lawsuit.
On Monday, a San Francisco federal jury made the award to former Tesla worker Owen Diaz.
“The verdict sends a message to corporate America that you need to make sure that racist conduct is not occurring,” Lawrence Organ, his attorney told Reuters.
Imre Szalai, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, said such a verdict against Tesla would create “shaming and awareness” of problems at the company.
“The public becomes aware that Tesla needs to change and increases more pressure for the company, as opposed to confidential arbitration award that doesn’t get that much publicity,” he said.
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