A federal jury in San Francisco awarded a former Tesla contractor $136.9 million on Monday after they found the company had ignored racial abuse at a Northern California factory.
According to theNew York Times, Owen Diaz, a former elevator operator at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, claimed he was the target of racial abuse during his time at the company from 2015 to 2016. Diaz, who is Black, said coworkers and a supervisor often referred to him using a racial slur.
“[I] had supervisors telling me, ‘N—-r, hurry up and push the button’; ‘N—-r, push these batteries out of the elevator.’ And they were also telling me, ‘N—–s aren’t s—,’ " Diaz told theDaily Beast, echoing allegations in the lawsuit.
Diaz also claimed other factory workers repeatedly drew racial images on bathroom stalls that included swastikas, a racial epithet and caricatures of Black children, according to theTimes. Diaz felt Tesla did not do enough to stop the behavior at their factory.
“It’s not like they were removing the offensive behavior, they would just let people keep adding and adding,” Diaz told theTimesfollowing the verdict.
According to Diaz, the abusive behavior reached a climax after his son began working at the company and became the target of racial epithets.
“My son watched his father being broken in front of him,” Diaz told theTimes.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Joshua Lott/Getty
Tesla did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment. In astatement on the electric car company’s website, its vice president of People, Valerie Capers Workman, addressed the verdict.
“The Tesla of 2015 and 2016 (when Mr. Diaz worked in the Fremont factory) is not the same as the Tesla of today. Since then, Tesla has added an Employee Relations team, dedicated to investigating employee complaints,” Capers Workman continued. “Tesla has added a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team dedicated to ensuring that employees have the equal opportunity to excel at Tesla.”
Capers Workman also said the company has a “comprehensive” employee handbook, “where all of our HR policies, employee protections, and ways to report issues are published in one easy-to-find online document.”
“We acknowledge that we still have work to do to ensure that every employee feels that they can bring their whole self to work at Tesla,” the spokesperson continued.
Diaz, meanwhile, told theDaily Beasthe had hoped Tesla CEOElon Muskwould apologize to him.
“Elon has not called me, sent me a letter, a text, sky writing, or sent up one of them spaceships to say I’m sorry,” Diaz said.
source: people.com
