Tesla loses bid to move sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state decide has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to send a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment at the company's flagship assembly plant to private arbitration, permitting it to move forward in court docket.

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

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

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"Principally, Barraza was ambushed," the choose wrote.

Barraza within the lawsuit filed in November claims employees and supervisors at the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd feedback and gestures to female workers, and that the corporate failed to deal with complaints.

The lawsuit is considered one of at the least seven pending in California state courtroom to make similar claims against Tesla. Kaus is presiding over 5 extra of these cases.

Tesla did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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

"Due to this ruling... Tesla will be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe said in a press release.

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

Tesla has stated it doesn't tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired staff who engaged in misconduct.

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

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