Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state decide has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to send a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the company's flagship meeting plant to personal arbitration, permitting it to move ahead in court.

California Superior Courtroom Decide Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's motion to compel arbitration in a brief order on Monday.

In a written opinion released on Tuesday, Kaus said Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to signal an arbitration agreement after she had already quit her earlier job.

Register

"Principally, Barraza was ambushed," the decide wrote.

Barraza within the lawsuit filed in November claims staff and supervisors on the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to female staff, and that the corporate failed to handle complaints.

The lawsuit is one in all not less than seven pending in California state court to make related claims against Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of these instances.

Tesla didn't instantly reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.

David Lowe, a lawyer for Barraza, referred to as the decision "a victory for public accountability."

"Due to this ruling... Tesla will probably be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's friends in a public courtroom," Lowe mentioned in a press release.

Along with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is facing separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its vegetation. A California choose last month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit worker who said he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. read extra

Tesla has said it doesn't tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired staff who engaged in misconduct.

Register

Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Belief Principles.