Tesla must pay nearly $137 million to a Black former worker who said he suffered racist abuse at the electric carmaker’s Bay Area factory.
A federal court in San Francisco agreed on Monday that Owen Diaz was subjected to racist harassment and a hostile work environment — three days before Tesla's annual shareholder meeting.
Diaz alleged in a lawsuit that he was harassed and faced “daily racist epithets,” including the “N-word,” while working at Tesla’s Fremont plant in 2015 and 2016 before quitting. Diaz was a contracted elevator operator.
Diaz also alleged that employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the plant. He contended that supervisors failed to stop the abuse.
“Tesla’s progressive image was a façade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of [African American] employees,” the lawsuit said.
Diaz was awarded $6.9 million in damages for emotional distress and $130 million in punitive damages, his attorney, Lawrence A. Organ, said.
“It took four long years to get to this point,” Diaz told The New York Times. “It’s like a big weight has been pulled off my shoulders.”
Amy Oppenheimer, a Berkeley-based attorney with experience in workplace investigations, served as an expert witness for Diaz. She says employers as large as Tesla should have effective mechanisms in place to make sure racist incidents don't go unnoticed by supervisors.
"Here you have a huge employer with decent policies, but policies are easy. You can get them off the internet," she said. "The point is, what do you do with them? The point is, how do you enforce them?"
