Tesla faces lawsuit for anti-LGBT threats
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 29: Elon Musk during his presenation at the Tesla Powerpack Launch Event at Hornsdale Wind Farm on September 29, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Tesla will build the world’s largest lithium ion battery after coming to an agreement with the South Australian government. The Powerpack project will be capable of an output of 100 megawatts (MW) of power at a time and the huge battery will be able to store 129 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised to build the Powerpack in 100 days, or he will deliver it for free. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
Elon Musk’s brainchild Tesla Motors has been accused of homophobic behaviour towards one of its former employees on the assembly line.
Jorge Ferro said he was taunted for being gay and threatened with violence and has taken up legal action with an automaker in an exclusive with The Guardian.
Ferro has alleged that during his time on the assembly line for the company, his supervisor, Jamar Taylor, told him to “watch his back” after commenting that his clothes were “gay tight.
According to the suit, supervisor Taylor also “went on to suggest that [Ferro] had a lot of enemies because ‘everyone suspects that [he is] gay’”, the suit said.
Ferro also said that a HR representative removed his badge that stated he had an injury, remarking that “there’s no place for handicapped people at Tesla”.
Tesla has defended itself against charges of discrimination: “There is no company on earth with a better track record than Tesla,” it said in a statement to the publication.
“I knew that I had to stand up to make sure this did not happen to anyone else,” said Ferro.
This is not the only case that Musk’s company is facing.
Owen Diaz is also putting filed a lawsuit accusing the company of not protecting him from racial harassment.
His son Demetric who worked at the factory also alleged abuse.
Subject to racial slurs from employees, who also drew racist and derogatory pictures of people of colour, Diaz said to The Guardian that he “just couldn’t take it any more.”
“It was disrespectful and humiliating,” said Owen. “It was just a feeling that no person should ever have to go through.”
According to the lawsuit, not only did Tesla fail to stop the harassment, but days after Ferro made the complaint, he was punished.
Tesla has also faced ire for from a female engineeer who sued the organisation for sexual harassment.
AJ Vandermeyden said that she was paid a lower salary than her colleagues for her work, and said that a manager and a HR employee said women in the company are not as skilled as men.
“I’m an advocate of Tesla. I really do believe they are doing great things,” said Vandermeyden.
That said, I can’t turn a blind eye if there’s something fundamentally wrong going on.”
