Tesla loses bid to move sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

Might 24 (Reuters) - A California state decide has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the company's flagship meeting plant to private arbitration, permitting it to move forward in courtroom.

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

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

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

Barraza within the lawsuit filed in November claims staff and supervisors at the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to feminine employees, and that the company failed to handle complaints.

The lawsuit is one among a minimum of seven pending in California state court docket to make related claims against Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of those circumstances.

Tesla did not instantly respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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

"Due to this ruling... Tesla might be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe said in a statement.

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

Tesla has stated it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired staff who engaged in misconduct.

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.