How Tesla Is Responding To $137M Jury Verdict For Racism In Workplace

Tesla, Inc. TSLA was ordered by a federal court to pay Owen Diaz — a Black man who worked as a contract elevator operator at the automaker's Fremont factory — $137 million in damages for racial abuse. 

After the damages were awarded, the company issued a statement offering its take on the verdict.

Tesla Concedes Conditions 'Weren't Perfect': In what came across as a partial confession of issues and partial defense against the verdict, Valerie Capers Workman, Tesla's vice president of people, said in a blog post the facts of the case don't justify the verdict reached by the San Francisco jury. 

"We were not perfect" in 2015 and 2016, Capers Workman said of the years 2015 and 2016, when the alleged racial harassment occurred. "We're still not perfect," she said. 

"But we have come a long way from 5 years ago. We continue to grow and improve in how we address employee concerns. Occasionally, we'll get it wrong, and when that happens we should be held accountable," the Tesla exec said in a post. 

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Since 2015 and 2016, Tesla has added an employee relations team dedicated to investigating employee complaints and a diversity, equity and inclusion team dedicated to ensuring that employees have the equal opportunity to excel at Tesla, Capers Workman said.

The company now has a comprehensive employee handbook, where all of the HR policies, employee protections, and ways to report issues are published in one easy-to-find online document, according to the blog post. 

The Tesla executive also said the company will continue to remind everyone who enters the Tesla workplace that "any discriminatory slurs — no matter the intent or who is using them — will not be tolerated."'

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were trading 0.62% higher at $786.35 Tuesday morning. 

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