Tesla loses bid to move sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state choose has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the firm's flagship meeting plant to personal arbitration, allowing it to move ahead in courtroom.

California Superior Courtroom Decide 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 said Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to signal an arbitration agreement after she had already quit her earlier job.

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

Barraza in the lawsuit filed in November claims staff and supervisors on the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd feedback and gestures to feminine employees, and that the company failed to address complaints.

The lawsuit is certainly one of no less than seven pending in California state courtroom to make comparable claims towards Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of these cases.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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

"Because of this ruling... Tesla might be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's peers in a public courtroom," Lowe said in an announcement.

Together with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is facing separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its crops. A California judge final month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing unit worker who stated he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. learn extra

Tesla has stated 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, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

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