An ex-Tesla employee is suing the electric automaker for age discrimination after his contract was terminated in February this year.
In a lawsuit filed last week, 69-year-old Thomas Flessner says that his time at Tesla was plagued by segregation due to his age and claims that he was frequently chastized for completing projects slower than his younger co-workers.
Flessner, who worked as a materials engineer, says that even though he worked as hard as every other employee, he was the only one criticized for completing work slowly, Fusion reports.
“The younger engineers were not criticized for the speed of their work by [supervisor Paul] Edwards even though they did not accomplish their projects any faster than plaintiff,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also asserts that after Flessner took time off to have surgery for congestive heart failure, he was warned by a supervisor that the younger workers were “gunning” for his position.
In a statement, Tesla said “While we aren’t commenting on the specifics of this litigation, we are committed to upholding a discrimination-free workplace.”
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