According to a court document on Tuesday, a federal judge in the United States told Owen Diaz, a former elevator operator of Tesla, that he had two weeks to decide whether to accept $15million in compensation It is reported that Diaz was subjected to racial abuse at the automaker's Fremont, California plant.
Last October, a jury in the San Francisco Federal Court ordered Tesla to pay $137million to the black former worker because he turned a blind eye to racial harassment and discrimination in Tesla's electric car factory. However, in April this year, after Tesla challenged the judgment, the compensation was reduced to $15million, saying that it should only pay $600000. At that time, American District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco reduced the compensatory damages from US $6.9 million to US $1.5 million, and the punitive damages from US $130million to US $13.5 million.
Orrick pointed out in his order on Tuesday that he could not find any controlling legal issues to justify an immediate appeal against the reduced compensation. The judge also said he believed the jury's decision was excessive, and allowing a speedy appeal would further delay the settlement of a five-year-old case.
Diaz testified that employees, including a Tesla supervisor, called him "n" and other racial stigmas during his nine months working in Tesla in 2015 and 2016. In addition, he drew racist cartoons and Nazi symbols and subjected him to other forms of discrimination.
It is reported that the California Department of fair employment and housing (dfeh) also sued Tesla. The Department accused Tesla of racism and harassment against black employees at the Fremont plant. In April this year, Tesla filed a complaint against dfeh, saying that the agency's lawsuit against the electric vehicle manufacturer exceeded its legal authority.
On Tuesday local time, it was reported that Tesla submitted a complaint against dfeh to the California Office of administrative law (oal). The electric car company accused the agency of using "underground regulations" to flout the requirements it must meet before suing employers. However, the administrative law office confirmed to techcrunch that Tesla has not filed such a complaint so far.
In fact, even if Tesla wants to do so, it will not have an impact on the current case. According to government regulations, Tesla needs to submit an underground regulation application before the case can be considered and have a potential impact on the current case.