Judge Reduces $137 Million Award In Tesla Racial Discrimination Case To $15 Million
A federal judge has decided to drastically decrease the settlement in a Tesla racial discrimination case from $137 million to $15 million.
As previously reported, Owen Diaz worked as an elevator operator for Tesla between June 2015 and May 2016. He sued the company in 2017, alleging a hostile work environment and racial harassment.
A federal judge has decided that he will no longer receive the $137 million after Tesla appealed the verdict.
Larry Organ, Diaz’s lawyer and founder of the California Civil Rights Law Group, told NPR:
That’s the maximum. It wasn’t because [the judge] found anything wrong with what Mr. Diaz said or that Mr. Diaz wasn’t injured or anything like that. It’s just based on a comparison.
Diaz claimed other people called him the n-word during his tenure at the company, including a supervisor who called him the derogatory term “more than 30 times.”
In a message sent to Tesla employees last year, the company stated the facts didn’t justify the judgment.