The testimony of an elevator operator at Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif., provided moving details of how race bias at the facility made him feel.
The plaintiff, a Black man named Owen Diaz, became emotional while testifying -- so much so that U.S. District Judge William Orrick ordered a 15-minute recess to give Diaz time to compose himself.
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"It made me feel less than a man (and) it made me question my worth," Diaz said, according to Reuters. "I was living from paycheck to paycheck and I needed the job."
At a trial on March 29, Diaz talked about the racial slurs and threats he heard at the plant.
"(Diaz) struggled to speak at times during his testimony, including when he explained how he had recorded Spanish-speaking coworkers and later discovered using a translation website that they were calling him racial slurs," Reuters reported.
In 2021, a jury found Tesla liable for discrimination and awarded Diaz a $137 payment from the company.
Orrick had agreed with that jury that Tesla was responsible for fostering a hostile work environment but lowered the payment to $15 million.
Diaz did not take the lower award and opted instead for a new trial with a new jury.
Diaz's attorney, Bernard Alexander, had compared the factory to a "plantation" where Black workers were harassed and management paid little attention to complaints, Reuters reported.
Tesla said it has no tolerance for workplace harassment and takes accusations seriously.
Alex Spiro, representing the company, "told jurors on Monday that Diaz was exaggerating his claims of emotional distress and there was no evidence warranting a multimillion-dollar award," according to Reuters.
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