Six more women file sexual harassment complaint against Tesla in the United States

Bad times for Tesla. While the G7 company has decided to suspend its electric cars in Paris following a spectacular accident, the company is also in the crosshairs of public opinion in the United States. Six women working for Tesla in California filed a complaint against the company on Tuesday, accusing it of tolerating sexual harassment, characterized by bantering, unsolicited physical contact and retaliation against female employees who complained shortly thereafter. two similar complaints.

“The six women describe an environment in which it is normal (for them) to be hissed, (for them to be) eyed, to be touched inappropriately and for them to be the subject of advances,” said a press release. lawyers representing them, David Lowe and William Jhaveri-Weeks. “Those who complained were sometimes threatened or transferred against their will,” he added. “The message was clear, there would be no consequences for the stalkers” within the group led by Elon Musk, named Monday personality of the year by the American magazine Time.

Masturbation request in the parking lot

A first complaint was filed in mid-November, accusing the company of having allowed an atmosphere conducive to sexual harassment against women to settle in the Fremont factory and of having done nothing despite the protests. Another woman sued the company and its immediate supervisor last week for sexual harassment. “So many similar experiences show that this is a systemic problem at Tesla,” said William Jhaveri-Weeks.

Of the six women who filed a complaint on Tuesday, five work or have worked at the Fremont plant and the sixth in service centers in southern California. One of them, Michala Curran, describes how she had to cope from her first weeks at the Fremont plant with repeated lustful comments about her physique, including from her boss. One of his co-workers asked him to masturbate in the factory parking lot, bringing up the fact that sex was common there. She resigned after two months and claims to have observed the same kind of harassment against other female colleagues.

“The only solution for women is to leave”

Tesla, who was recently ordered in another case to pay a black ex-employee $ 137 million in damages for turning a blind eye to the racism the man was enduring at one of his factories, failed to immediately responded to a request from AFP.

According to a former employee of another company run by Elon Musk, SpaceX, the problem is also recurring there. In a text published Tuesday on the Lioness website, she describes a company “so plagued by sexism that the only solution for women is to leave” and gives several examples of touching, forced hugs or inappropriate advances. . Warned each time, human resources did nothing, she says.