Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state choose has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at the company's flagship meeting plant to personal arbitration, permitting it to move ahead in court docket.

California Superior Court docket Decide Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's movement to compel arbitration in a quick order on Monday.

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

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

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

The lawsuit is one in all at the very least seven pending in California state courtroom to make related claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over 5 more of these instances.

Tesla didn't instantly reply to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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

"Due to this ruling... Tesla can be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's friends in a public courtroom," Lowe mentioned in a press release.

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

Tesla has said it doesn't tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired workers who engaged in misconduct.

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

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