Aashish Sehrawat
Image: Forbes
On Wednesday, a Tesla employee filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation and failure to prevent “a pattern of continuous and pervasive” sexual harassment at the company’s Fremont facility.
Erica Cloud, a Tesla plant assembly line worker, has filed a complaint in the Alameda County Superior Court in California. Tesla and other defendants, including Cloud’s former manager, are accused of permitting the employee to be subjected to harassment and unwelcome approaches on a regular basis, according to the lawsuit.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the manager named in the case, did not reply to a request for comment.
Cloud said in her lawsuit that her former manager harassed her “on a near-daily basis.” According to the lawsuit, the manager would “get on his knees and propose marriage,” as well as “hug and massage” her, and she would repeatedly refuse the approaches.
According to the lawsuit, in the spring of 2020, the manager informed Cloud “on several occasions that she is ‘blackenese’ and he ‘is big down there,’ referring to his penis.” According to the lawsuit, the manager’s actions were hostile and prompted her to “fear for her safety.”
According to the lawsuit, Tesla’s Human Resources department delayed two to three months to respond to Cloud’s allegations after she reported the manager to the team. Cloud said she was subjected to “a hostile work environment” after reporting the alleged harassment after she ceased working with the manager.
Cloud was sent home early or requested not to work on many occasions for “arbitrary reasons,” according to the lawsuit, and as a result, he lost salary, incentives, and perks.
Tesla allegedly disregarded the law, specifically the Fair Employment and Housing Act, by failing to prevent alleged sexual harassment and retaliating against Cloud when she reported the charges, according to Cloud and her lawyers. Attorneys are seeking damages, declaratory and injunctive remedies, as well as attorneys’ costs.
Cloud’s complaint comes just a few weeks after another industrial worker accused the company of sexual harassment. Jessica Barraza filed a complaint against Tesla in November, alleging that the firm behaves like a “frat house.”
The Washington Post reported at the time that three current and former Tesla employees at the Fremont factory had witnessed or suffered sexual harassment.
A federal court had ordered Tesla to pay about $137 million the month before after a federal court found that a Fremont plant employee had been subjected to racial harassment. The judgement is currently being appealed by Tesla.