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 on the company's flagship assembly plant to non-public arbitration, allowing it to maneuver forward in court docket.

California Superior Courtroom Decide 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 stated Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to sign an arbitration agreement after she had already stop her previous job.

Register

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

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

The lawsuit is considered one of at the least seven pending in California state court docket to make related claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five extra of those circumstances.

Tesla did not immediately respond 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 will probably be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe mentioned in a press release.

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

Tesla has said it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired staff who engaged in misconduct.

Register

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Principles.