Court Orders Tesla: Pay $3.2-M To Racially Harassed Ex-Worker

Electric carmaker Tesla has been ordered to pay almost $3.2-million (£2.6 million) to a former worker, a black after he won a racial harassment lawsuit, Annabelle Liang and Nick Edser reported for BBC News.

Photo Insert: Owen Diaz, a lift operator from 2015 to 2016 at its Fremont factory, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, a federal jury found.

Owen Diaz, a lift operator from 2015 to 2016 at its Fremont factory, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, a federal jury found. However, the payment has been slashed by 98% from the $137 million that he was originally awarded in 2021.

A judge ruled last year that the initial amount was excessive.

On Monday, Diaz was awarded $3 million in punitive damages and $175,000 in damages for emotional distress. "If we had been allowed to introduce new evidence, the verdict would've been zero imo," Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Twitter.

"Jury did the best they could with the information they had. I respect the decision," he added. Musk, who grew up in apartheid South Africa, is also rabidly anti-union.

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