Tesla must pay $137m for racial taunts against a former plant operator

Tesla almost never loses workplace arbitrations, though it was hit with a $1m award in May in a case brought by another ex-contract worker that was similar to Mr Diaz’s.

Tesla has lost a case against a Black former elevator operator and must pay an unprecedented $137m (€117m) in damages for having turned a blind eye to racial taunts and offensive graffiti the man endured at the electric carmaker’s auto plant in Fremont in California.

Owen Diaz, a former contract worker who was hired in 2015 via a staffing agency, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, a federal jury in San Francisco decided. The award is among the most significant verdicts of its kind.