A San Francisco federal jury ordered Tesla to pay $3.2 million to a Black ex-worker who sued the automaker for racism and creating a hostile work environment.
Owen Diaz sued Tesla in 2017 and accused the electric car company of failing to end and prevent racial harassment at its assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.
According to Diaz’s suit, employees at the factory used slurs and told him to “go back to Africa.” They allegedly drew swastikas and other racist graffiti in work areas and restrooms during his nine months employed as an elevator operator. He was originally hired through a staffing agency.
In 2021, a jury ordered the company to pay $137 million in damages. However, the judge found Tesla liable but reduced the damages to $15 million. In response, both Diaz and Tesla sought a retrial.
On Monday, after a week-long trial, the jury awarded Diaz $175,000 in damages for emotional distress and $3 million in punitive damages.
Diaz’s attorney Bernard Alexander asked jurors to award Diaz nearly $160 million in damages so Tesla and other companies would take harassment and discrimination seriously.
“Mr. Diaz’s outlook on the world has been permanently changed,” Alexander said during closing arguments. “That is what happens when you take away a person’s safety.
“Do justice — and justice is not cheap,” Alexander urged the jury.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered a comment about the latest development on Twitter.
“If we had been allowed to introduce new evidence, the verdict would’ve been zero imo. Jury did the best they could with the information they had. I respect the decision,” he wrote.
Tesla is facing a pending class action by Black workers, a number of individual suits and a case from a California civil rights agency.