Tesla Motors was sued yesterday by an employee who alleges that she and other women working in the carmaker's Fremont factory have been subjected to "nightmarish conditions of rampant sexual harassment."
Jessica Barraza's lawsuit against Tesla says that she works nights and that as "she walks to and from her work station at the beginning and end of shifts or breaks, men make comments like 'She's got fat titties,' 'She's got cakes!,' 'That bitch hella thick,' 'Go ahead, sexy,' 'Damn, girl!,' 'She has a fat ass,' 'Oh, she looks like a coke bottle,' and 'Girl has an onion booty.'" Barraza began working on the Tesla factory floor as a production associate in October 2018 and had "hopes of spending her career at Tesla and rising through the ranks," but she is now on medical leave after suffering panic attacks triggered by the harassment, the lawsuit says.
"Multiple times a week, male co-workers brush up against Ms. Barraza's back-side (including with their groins) or unnecessarily touch her under the pretext of working together in close quarters," the lawsuit alleges. Barraza says that managers and human resources personnel both failed to protect her even though she complained repeatedly.
"Ms. Barraza, who started her career at Tesla as a strong, confident, ambitious woman, is currently on a medical leave until the end of the year, ordered by her doctor, in treatment with a therapist who has diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder, and on anxiety medication," the complaint says.
Like a “construction site or frat house”
Barraza's lawsuit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court in California. This is how the complaint's first paragraph summarizes the alleged harassment:
The complaint alleges sexual harassment in violation of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, failure to prevent sexual harassment, and retaliation. Barraza says that Tesla retaliated against her after she complained about sexual harassment and that she was "denied certain privileges and benefits that were afforded to women who did not object to supervisors' sexual advances and flirtations."Although Tesla publicly claims that it fosters a safe and respectful environment for its workers, the truth is that for years Tesla has subjected women working in its Fremont plant to nightmarish conditions of rampant sexual harassment. Tesla's factory floor more resembles a crude, archaic construction site or frat house than a cutting-edge company in the heart of the progressive San Francisco Bay Area. The pervasive culture of sexual harassment, which includes a daily barrage of sexist language and behavior, including frequent groping on the factory floor, is known to supervisors and managers and often perpetrated by them. Jessica Barraza complained repeatedly to managers and to HR, who failed to protect her. She was forced to endure this atrocious and illegal behavior for years until she could not take it anymore. Ms. Barraza is bringing this case to put a stop to the systemic sexual harassment that plagues her and the other women at Tesla.
Barraza's complaint asks for compensatory damages, punitive damages, and injunctions preventing Tesla from continuing the behavior described in the lawsuit—including a requirement that Tesla "adopt training, monitoring, reporting, and enforcement policies reasonably calculated to immediately end such unlawful practices."
Suit challenges Tesla’s mandatory arbitration
Barraza signed a mandatory arbitration agreement as a condition of employment when she took the job at Tesla, but her lawsuit alleges that the arbitration provision "is procedurally and substantively unconscionable and, therefore, unenforceable." Tesla uses mandatory arbitration to "shield itself from public accountability," Barraza alleges.
Barraza's lawsuit against Tesla says she also filed a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing against the company for discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, and she obtained a right-to-sue notice that allowed her to file the lawsuit.
We contacted Tesla about Barraza's lawsuit today and will update this article if we get a response.
Barraza's lawsuit was filed about six weeks after a federal jury awarded $137 million to Owen Diaz, a Black worker who alleged that Tesla failed to take reasonable steps to prevent racist abuse at the Fremont factory. "It shines a light on what's going on inside of Tesla's factory," Diaz reportedly said after the verdict. "Elon Musk, you've been put on notice. Clean that factory up."
After the Diaz verdict, Tesla issued a statement stressing that the trial covered events from 2015 to 2016. Tesla has "come a long way from five years ago. We continue to grow and improve in how we address employee concerns," the company said. But Barraza's lawsuit alleges that sexual harassment at the Tesla factory continued until at least October 2021, shortly before she went on leave.
Tesla says that over 10,000 employees work at its Fremont factory.
Barraza has witnesses
Barraza's complaint demands a jury trial and says there are witnesses who will testify about the "rampant" harassment at Tesla:
Ms. Barraza saw other women experiencing the same environment, and witnesses will testify that they too experienced or observed the rampant sexual harassment at Tesla. Ms. Barraza brings this action to hold Tesla accountable for the harm it has caused her and other women and to seek injunctive relief in the form of policy changes at Tesla that will put a stop to the unsafe, hostile work environment harming women at its Fremont factory.
Barraza's lawsuit describes her as a 38-year-old mother of two. The sexist comments she gets while walking to and from her workstation "come not only from co-workers, but from supervisory 'Leads,' and within earshot of supervisors, and sometimes from supervisors themselves," the lawsuit says. "One of her supervisors referred to her and other female colleagues as 'bitches.' That same supervisor re-assigned her to another area where his friend had a 'crush' on her, as if she were a 'prize' to be doled out. A Lead propositioned her by text message, and another supervisor flirted with her and told her how he controlled her career prospects."
“They act like they’ve never seen girls”
The Washington Post interviewed three other Tesla workers who witnessed some of the alleged harassment. "Three current and former Tesla workers corroborated aspects of Barraza's account in interviews with The Post," according to the newspaper's report. "They said they witnessed incidents recounted by the plaintiff or themselves experienced sexual harassment at Tesla's Fremont facilities, describing the culture as male-driven, retaliatory, and unwelcoming to women."
The Post described a complaint made by another Tesla employee in Fremont:
Alisa Blickman, 33, said the same patterns play out at Tesla's nearby seat factory where she works, also in Fremont. She described witnessing male workers using "the number system" to rank the attractiveness of female colleagues, she said.
"I don't know if it's the 12-hour shifts that get to these guys or what it is—they just act like they've never seen girls in there or something," said Blickman, a production associate. "You really feel like a piece of meat in there." Blickman filed an HR complaint, viewed by The Post. She is on COVID-related leave, she said, but remains employed by Tesla.
Barraza details alleged retaliation
Tesla is investigating allegations of sex discrimination made against Barraza's current supervisor, David Ihley, and Barraza was interviewed by HR in connection with that investigation, Barraza's complaint says.
"As she told HR, she has witnessed Mr. Ihley show favoritism towards women who dress scantily and are flirtatious," the complaint says. "He permits them to use their phones on the line, leave early, and generally receive lenient treatment that other women are not afforded, and it was generally understood among Ms. Barraza and her female co-workers that putting up with sexually inappropriate behavior was a way to get on the good side of certain supervisors including Mr. Ihley. On the other hand, opposing harassing comments and flirtations, as Ms. Barraza did, resulted in the denial of such workplace benefits."
After one of Barraza's complaints about a co-worker in March 2020, a supervisor named Ernie Tambo "moved Ms. Barraza to a new location at the factory" instead of "moving the male coworker or otherwise addressing his inappropriate conduct," Barraza alleges. Barraza faced disciplinary action in October 2021 after a panic attack caused her to drive to a hospital emergency room, "where she was prescribed medication for her acute anxiety," the complaint said.
"Mr. [Manny] Yepiz [an acting supervisor], rather than take action on her sexual harassment complaint, informed her that he would be creating a disciplinary report against her for 'job abandonment,'" the lawsuit said.
Co-workers “touch Ms. Barraza’s body with impunity”
The lawsuit describes one September 2021 incident in which "a man snuck up behind Ms. Barraza as she clocked in from her lunch break and positioned his leg between her legs so that when she stepped away from the clock, she felt a leg between her thighs; she jumped in shock, shouting 'What the fuck!?' The man chuckled and said, 'Oh, my bad.'"
The harassment even happens when Barraza walks to and from her car in the Tesla parking lot, the complaint says:
When Ms. Barraza has to walk to and from her car in the Tesla parking lot during her night shift, men make comments (e.g. "You look really sexy driving that car") to the point that Ms. Barraza generally calls her husband while in the parking lot so that he is on the line with her while she walks to her car at night. Ms. Barraza started calling her husband at these times after feeling threatened by a male co-worker who followed her into the lot even though he did not have a car.
The complaint says that male co-workers "touch Ms. Barraza's body with impunity, often acting as though such touching is accidental or necessitated by the close quarters in which they work." In one of the "more brazen" instances in early 2020, Barraza says she asked a co-worker named Kenny "to make room for her to go past him down the stairs," but the co-worker ignored her request and "put his hands on the sides of her waist, lifted her up with his hands pressing against her torso under her breasts, and set her down on the other side of him. Having a male co-worker so freely place his hands on private parts of her body without permission was extremely distressing to Ms. Barraza, particularly in the sexually charged atmosphere of the factory. She shouted at Kenny and began to cry."
“Maybe you shouldn’t wear shirts that draw attention to your chest”
While the alleged harassment was mostly perpetrated by men, one female employee named Evelyn once "began flirting with Ms. Barraza, culminating in asking Ms. Barraza if her 'butt' was 'real' and placing her hands on the bare skin at the top of Ms. Barraza's lower back-side," the lawsuit says. "Ms. Barraza reported this to her supervisor at the time, Mr. [Kris] Panera, who concluded that it was just a 'cultural difference,' so he would not report the incident to HR, despite her explicit objection that he should report it."
Panera was Barraza's supervisor from late 2020 to August 2021 and "flirted conspicuously with the women who reported to him," including Barraza, the lawsuit says. The complaint also makes an allegation about Barraza's previous supervisor, Karlos Tapia:
Around August 2020, a co-worker kept staring at Ms. Barraza's chest. She asked him to stop. Her supervisor at the time, Karlos Tapia, overheard this and said to Ms. Barraza, "Maybe you shouldn't wear shirts that draw attention to your chest." Ms. Barraza replied that she was wearing a work shirt provided by Tesla—the same shirt worn by many men on the line. Mr. Tapia replied, "Well, for example, right now I'm staring at your chest, and I can see there's a car on your shirt and some wording."
“Three years of harassment... changed Ms. Barraza”
The complaint says that Barraza "often reported" harassment to Leads and supervisors "[w]hen the harassment was not committed by Leads and supervisors themselves," and eventually complained to HR. The Leads, supervisors, and HR all "failed to take action to protect her," the complaint says.
Barraza finally hit a breaking point and had to stop working, the complaint says:
Ms. Barraza has always been a tough person. She builds cars. She stands up for herself. When men insult or proposition her at work, she asks them to stop or ignores them and maintains her composure and dignity. But three years of harassment and no support from Tesla have changed Ms. Barraza. She reached her breaking point when her complaints about the man placing his leg between her legs were ignored in September 2021. She had a severe panic attack that day and another panic attack several days later at work when asked to do group 'stretches' that would have required her to bend over in front of the male colleagues who harassed her. She left work and drove to the emergency room. She is afraid to return to work knowing that her body could be violated at any time with no repercussions. She is now afraid to be alone in public spaces around men she does not know. Her doctor has taken her off work, she is on medication and in therapy, and she is not the same person she used to be.
Seeking damages for other potential victims
Barraza's legal plan does not end with this lawsuit, the complaint says:
Plaintiff will file a Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Notice seeking penalties for violation of California Labor Code Sections 6400(a) and 6401 against Tesla on behalf of herself and all other women working at the Fremont facilities within the past year who were subjected to the unsafe environment alleged herein. After fulfilling the exhaustion requirements set forth in Labor Code § 2699.3, Plaintiff intends to amend this Complaint to add a cause of action under PAGA.
The Washington Post article on the lawsuit said the PAGA procedure would allow "Barraza and other potential victims to recover civil penalties." Barraza's lawyer, David Lowe, said that her allegations are similar to those that led to the $137 million judgment in the racial discrimination case and that "we don't know how many [other women] are out there waiting."
"I think it's a very similar dynamic as far as how horribly the African-American employees in that case were treated and how women were treated," Lowe said, according to The Washington Post. "It's the same kind of dominance and disparagement and dehumanization really in both cases; it's just that one is racist, the other is misogynist—you could substitute the language and the behavior."
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Lawsuit: Tesla is like a “frat house” with “frequent groping on the factory floor” - Ars Technica
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