Kaylen Barker, a woman who worked for Tesla from February to October 2021, sued Elon Musk’s company, arguing that she suffered racial abuse and physical assault while worked there.
Barker, who is an African-American lesbian woman, filed her lawsuit against Tesla and the staffing company Staffmark, according to information provided to Insider by her attorney.
The lawsuit alleges that Tesla failed to address the racist abuse directed at her by a co-worker named Joanne and retaliated against her when she tried to report the abuse.
“I was physically, mentally and emotionally raped because I am an African-American lesbian,” said the prosecution.
The lawsuit alleges that his co-worker directed racial slurs at him after Barker got a promotion, including muttering the “N” word under his breath as he walked past.
Barker accuses that the She made Joanne’s behavior known to Human Resources on different occasions, but was never notified of any action against the female aggressor.
The lawsuit describes that in September, after Barker had asked Joanne to step away from a machine for safety reasons, Joanne called Barker the “N” word and threw a hot abrasive tool at him. hit the thigh.
Baker complained to the Human Resources department and the aggressor was fired, but was rehired after two weeks.
The lawsuit explains that little after the incident, Baker was told by company personnel that she was under investigation and called into meetings “almost daily” and was required to sign a document stating that her conduct had been “insubordinate.” .
Barker indicates that they cut the hours of work until she was finally fired on 29 October, and that Tesla withheld five paychecks from her last months of work.
Barker is represented by J. Bernard Alexander III, the attorney who represented Owen Diaz, a former Tesla elevator operator who successfully sued the company for racial harassment in October 2021. On that occasion, the jury ordered that the affected party be compensated with $137 million.
You may also like:
Tesla receives new lawsuits for sexual harassment in one of its factories
Tesla employee in California shoots dead a colleague in the factory parking lot
Elon Musk says that this year for Tesla the humanoid robot will be more important than the car business
2021