Tesla emails show automaker offered cash to quiet discrimination suit - UPDATE
Tesla doesn't exactly have the best reputation when it comes to employee relations. Reports from the automaker's factory in Fremont, California, talk about speed taking precedence over quality in assembling cars and that forced overtime caused some preventable injuries. Today, The Guardian reports that company emails show Tesla wanted to settle with an employee who was allegedly the victim of racial discrimination so long as the details were kept out of the media.
The emails were given to The Guardian by DeWitt Lambert's lawyer. Lambert was one of three employees that filed a discrimination suit against Tesla last fall. According to the lawsuit, the three employees were taunted with racial slurs and racist drawings by other employees. At the time, Tesla told The Mercury News that it received no notice that the employees were the victims of racism.
The emails date to March of 2017 and were part of Tesla's settlement deal with Lambert. "In terms of settlement, we are willing to pay Mr. Lambert [redacted], but only if we are to resolve this matter before there is media attention, preferably within the next few hours," the Tesla general counsel Todd Maron wrote. Non-disclosure agreements are commonplace in settlements like this.
In a statement to The Guardian, Tesla did not deny the email's contents, but clarified that it was responding to Lambert's attorney's demand for more money. Tesla would take back its offer if details of Lambert's complaints were given to the media.
Tesla released the following statement to Autoblog:
"On background, you should know that the way this email has been characterized is extremely misleading. This isn't an attempt to "silence an alleged victim." Mr. Lambert's attorney had previously stated that Tesla must pay Mr. Lambert $950,000 or he would go public with a media story and lawsuit. That demand was beyond extreme and totally unwarranted given the facts of the case, and amounted to extortion, so our general counsel instead proposed a resolution that would actually be fair.
"However, Mr. Lambert's attorney continued to insist on a payment of $950,000 or they would engage in a media blitz, making clear to Tesla that this was really about extortion. Furthermore, the document our general counsel sent Mr. Lambert's attorney was not remotely an attack on Mr. Lambert. It was a dispassionate description of the underlying facts of the case, including Mr. Lambert's own Facebook post where he used the exact same insensitive language against one of the same employees that he complained was using that language against him."
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Tesla emails show automaker offered cash to quiet discrimination suit - UPDATE originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Apr 2018 16:30:00 EDT.
