Lawsuit: Tesla subjects women to ‘rampant sexual harassment’

Tesla’s female employees face “rampant sexual harassment,” according to a lawsuit by a woman who works in the electric carmaker’s Fremont, California, factory.

Jessica Barraza, 38, said in a complaint filed Thursday in state court in Oakland that she experienced “nightmarish” conditions as a night-shift worker at Tesla, with co-workers and supervisors making lewd comments and gestures to her and other women multiple times a week. When she complained to supervisors and human resources, they failed to take action, Barraza says.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case comes as Tesla is already facing a staggering $137 million verdict in favor of another worker who said he experienced pervasive racism at the Fremont factory. Tesla is now appealing that award.

A juror in that case told Bloomberg News that the panel hoped to prod Tesla executives to “take the most basic preventative measures and precautions they neglected to take as a large corporation to protect any employee within their factory.”

Tesla has been dogged by allegations of discrimination at its Fremont plant for years, but most employees are bound by arbitration agreements that keep most complaints confidential.

In 2020, 31 complaints were filed with California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging discrimination at Tesla on the basis of race, age, gender expression, disability and pregnancy, according to data obtained from public records. The state agency issued right-to-sue letters in a majority of the cases; a handful were closed with insufficient evidence.

Stocks end week on a mixed note

Wall Street closed out a week of choppy trading with stocks mostly lower Friday, though gains for several tech companies pushed the Nasdaq composite to another record high and its first close over 16,000 points.

The S&P 500 index gave up 0.1% a day after setting an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Despite an upand-down week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched weekly gains, while the Dow posted its second straight weekly loss.

The S&P 500 fell 6.58 points to 4,697.96. The

Dow slid 268.97 points to 35,601.98, its third straight drop. The Nasdaq added

63.73 points to 16,057.44, for its sixth straight gain.

The Russell 2000 index lost 20.43 points, or 0.9%, to 2,343.16.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.54% from 1.59% late Thursday. Falling bond yields weighed down banks, which rely on higher yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. JPMorgan Chase dropped 1.3%.

U.S. crude oil prices fell 3.7%, dragging down energy stocks. Exxon Mobil shed 4.6%.

TurboTax maker Intuit jumped 10.1% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after raising its profit forecast for its fiscal year. Software maker Adobe rose 2.6%.

Tesla added 3.7% and Nike rose 2.1%.

Moderna climbed 4.9% and Pfizer fell 1.2% after the Food and Drug Administration opened up coronavirus booster shots from the two companies to all adults.

U.S. stocks have been mostly pushing higher since early October as companies reported much stronger profits for the summer than analysts expected. More than 95% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their latest quarterly results in recent weeks, posting overall earnings growth of about 40%. That outpaces analysts’ forecasts for 23% growth made back in June.