Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state judge has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the company's flagship meeting plant to private arbitration, allowing it to maneuver ahead in court docket.

California Superior Courtroom Choose Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's motion to compel arbitration in a brief order on Monday.

In a written opinion released on Tuesday, Kaus said Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to signal an arbitration settlement after she had already give up her earlier job.

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"Principally, 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 comments and gestures to female workers, and that the company failed to address complaints.

The lawsuit is one among at least seven pending in California state courtroom to make similar claims towards Tesla. Kaus is presiding over five more of those circumstances.

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

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

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

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

Tesla has mentioned it doesn't tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired employees 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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