Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

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

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

In a written opinion launched on Tuesday, Kaus said Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to sign an arbitration agreement after she had already quit her earlier job.

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

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

The lawsuit is one in every of at least seven pending in California state court docket to make similar claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of these circumstances.

Tesla didn't immediately reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.

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

"Because of this ruling... Tesla shall be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's friends in a public courtroom," Lowe said in a press release.

Along with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is going through separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its crops. A California decide final month awarded $15 million to a Black former factory employee who mentioned he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. read more

Tesla has stated 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, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

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