Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

Could 24 (Reuters) - A California state choose has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to send a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the firm's flagship assembly plant to private arbitration, permitting it to move ahead in court.

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

In a written opinion released on Tuesday, Kaus stated Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to sign an arbitration settlement after she had already quit her earlier job.

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

Barraza in the lawsuit filed in November claims workers and supervisors on the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to feminine workers, and that the company failed to handle complaints.

The lawsuit is one among no less than seven pending in California state court docket to make comparable claims towards Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of those instances.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for touch upon 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 said in an announcement.

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 last month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit worker who mentioned he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. read more

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

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

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