(New York) Six women working for Tesla in California filed a lawsuit against the company on Tuesday, accusing it of tolerating sexual harassment, characterized by bantering, unsolicited physical contact and retaliation against female employees. complainant, shortly after two similar complaints.
“The six women describe an environment in which it is normal (for them) to be hissed, (for them to be) eyed, to be touched inappropriately and for them to be the subject of advances,” said a press release. lawyers representing them, David Lowe and William Jhaveri-Weeks.
“Those who complained were sometimes threatened or transferred against their will,” he added. “The message was clear, there would be no consequences for the stalkers” within the group led by Elon Musk, named Monday personality of the year by the American magazine Time.
A first complaint accusing the company of having allowed an atmosphere conducive to sexual harassment against women to settle in the Fremont factory and of having done nothing despite the protests had been filed in mid-November. Another woman sued the company and its immediate supervisor last week for sexual harassment.
“So many similar experiences show that this is a systemic problem at Tesla,” said William Jhaveri-Weeks.
Of the six women who filed a complaint on Tuesday, five work or have worked at the Fremont plant and the sixth in service centers in southern California.
One of them, Michala Curran, describes how she had to cope from her first weeks at the Fremont factory with repeated lustful comments about her physique, including from her boss.
One of his co-workers asked him to masturbate in the factory parking lot, bringing up the fact that sex was common there.
She resigned after two months and claims to have observed the same kind of harassment against other female colleagues.
Tesla, who was recently ordered in another case to pay a black ex-employee $ 137 million in damages for turning a blind eye to the racism suffered by the man in one of his factories, did not have in the immediate response to a request from AFP.
According to a former employee of another company run by Elon Musk, SpaceX, the problem is also recurring there.
In a text published Tuesday on the Lioness website, she describes a company “so plagued by sexism that the only solution for women is to leave” and gives several examples of touching, forced hugs or inappropriate advances. . Warned each time, human resources did nothing, she says.