Tesla Ordered To Pay $137M To Former Black Employee Over Racism At Work

Tesla Inc TSLA has been ordered to pay $137 million in damages by a federal jury for subjecting a former Black employee to racism at work, Bloomberg reported late Monday.

What Happened: A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered the Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker to pay the $137 million in damages to the former employee, Owen Diaz, who worked as an elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory in 2015 and 2016.

Tesla failed to take sufficient steps to prevent the employee from being harassed at the workplace, the federal jury said, as per the report.

See Also: Tesla Pays Out $1M To Former Employee Over Facing Racism At Work

Why It Matters: Instances of racism at Tesla have come up in the past. In August, the Palo Alto, California-based Tesla paid a former Black employee more than $1 million in damages after it failed to stop supervisors from using the “N-word” at a company manufacturing facility in California.

Tesla had then argued that the employee’s suffering was “garden variety” and he left his job voluntarily and only deserved $148 for losses.

In 2017, Tesla had denied allegations by a former assembly worker, Marcus Vaughn, that the automaker didn't investigate a written complaint of co-workers and supervisors using the “N-word” on him, as per a Los Angeles Times report.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 0.81% higher at $781.53 on Monday.

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