Black Worker Victim Of Racism At Tesla, Refuses To Compensate IDR 222 Billion, Previous Decision He Received IDR 2 Trillion

Tesla was accused of having developed a culture of racism. (photo; doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - A federal judge in California on Monday, June 27 ordered a new trial for damages Tesla Inc owes to a black former factory worker who accused the company of racial discrimination, after he was denied $15 million in damages. billion).

US District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco granted Tesla's motion for a new trial a week after former elevator operator, Owen Diaz, said he would not accept the judge's decision.

A jury last October awarded Diaz USD 137 million, one of the largest convictions ever in a discrimination case involving a single worker. Orrick in April said Tesla was liable to Diaz for discrimination, but he said the damages were excessive and lowered it to $15 million.

Diaz's lawyers said last week that the lower compensation was unfair because it undermined his constitutional right to be tried by a jury. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on this report.

Lawrence Organ, a lawyer for Diaz, said "we hope the new jury will view the evidence in the same way the first jury did and that Mr Diaz will get the justice the jury system deserves to give him."

Orrick did not set a date for the new trial, but scheduled a conference for July 12.

In her 2017 lawsuit, Diaz alleged that her colleagues and a supervisor at Tesla's Fremont, California assembly plant, subjected her to a hostile work environment that included racist slurs, caricatures and swastikas.

Tesla faces a series of lawsuits involving allegations of widespread racial discrimination and sexual harassment at its Fremont plant, including one by the California civil rights agency.

This month, a Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit accusing the company's chief executive, Elon Musk, and the board of directors of ignoring worker complaints and fostering a toxic workplace culture.

Tesla has denied wrongdoing and said it had policies in place to prevent and address workplace misconduct.