Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

Might 24 (Reuters) - A California state choose has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to send a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at the company's flagship assembly plant to personal arbitration, allowing it to maneuver ahead in court docket.

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

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

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

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

The lawsuit is one in all at the least seven pending in California state courtroom to make comparable claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of these instances.

Tesla did not immediately 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 shall be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe stated in an announcement.

Along with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is facing separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its crops. A California decide final month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit employee who mentioned he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. read 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, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

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