Tesla loses bid to move sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state judge has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to send a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at the firm's flagship meeting plant to personal arbitration, permitting it to move ahead in court.

California Superior Court Choose Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's movement to compel arbitration in a short order on Monday.

In a written opinion released on Tuesday, Kaus mentioned Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to signal an arbitration agreement after she had already stop her previous job.

Register

"Basically, Barraza was ambushed," the decide wrote.

Barraza within the lawsuit filed in November claims workers and supervisors at the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to feminine workers, and that the corporate failed to address complaints.

The lawsuit is one of at least seven pending in California state court to make comparable claims in opposition to Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five extra of these cases.

Tesla didn't immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday.

David Lowe, a lawyer for Barraza, known as the choice "a victory for public accountability."

"Due to this ruling... Tesla shall be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe stated in a statement.

Along with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is going through separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its plants. A California decide final month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit employee who said he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. learn extra

Tesla has mentioned it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired employees who engaged in misconduct.

Register

Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Modifying by Rosalba O'Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.