Tesla loses bid to move sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state decide has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at the company's flagship assembly plant to non-public arbitration, allowing it to maneuver forward in court.

California Superior Court docket Choose Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's movement to compel arbitration in a quick order on Monday.

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

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

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

The lawsuit is one in every of at the very least seven pending in California state court to make similar claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over 5 more of these circumstances.

Tesla did not instantly reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.

David Lowe, a lawyer for Barraza, known as the choice "a victory for public accountability."

"Due to this ruling... Tesla will be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's friends in a public courtroom," Lowe said in an announcement.

Together with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is dealing with separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its vegetation. A California decide final month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit employee who stated he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. learn extra

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

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

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