The former elevator operator at Tesla that was awarded $15 million after suing the carmaker alleging racial abuse from coworkers has rejected the payout.
In 2017, Owen Diaz filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming that his colleagues and a supervisor subjected him to a hostile work environment. He alleges to have heard slurs and seen caricatures and swastikas at Tesla’s Californian factory. Diaz has also claimed that colleagues left offensive graffiti in the restrooms and a racist drawing in his workspace.
The case went to trial last year and in October 2021, a judge ordered Tesla to pay Diaz $130 million in punitive damages and $6.9 million for the emotional distress that he endured during his time working for the company. However, in April, U.S. District Judge William Orrick lowered the jury award to $15 million and denied Tesla’s motion for a new trial, as long as Diaz accepted the lower payout.
Read More: Tesla Ordered To Pay Former Worker $137 Million For Hostile Work Environment, Racism
In a statement, lawyers for Diaz confirmed that he has rejected the payout and agreed to a new trial, Reuters reports.
“In rejecting the court’s excessive reduction by asking for a new trial, Mr. Diaz is again asking a jury of his peers to evaluate what Tesla did to him and to provide just compensation for the torrent of racist slurs that was directed at him,” Diaz’s lawyers stated.
The Diaz camp believe that the reduced award was unjust and would not be enough to deter future misconduct by Tesla. His lawyers added that Orrick’s decision to reduce the award highlighted the systemic bias that federal judges have against juries, violating the constitutional rights plaintiffs have to a trial by jury.
Most workplace disputes between Tesla employees and the company itself do not go to trial as the carmaker has a mandatory arbitration agreement that it makes employees sign, meaning disputes are resolved behind closed doors rather than at trial. Diaz did not sign such an agreement.
