Published in News

Tesla fires sexual discrimination complainer

by on02 June 2017


It was all untrue insists Tesla


The Apple of the car industry, Tesla, has a novel way of dealing with people who complain about sexual harassment and being paid less than males – it fires them.

AJ Vandermeyden, went public with her discrimination lawsuit against Tesla in February and now it seems that Tesla has decided to prove what a balanced employer it is by firing her.

Vandermeyden had claimed she was taunted and catcalled by male employees and that Tesla failed to address her complaints about the harassment, unequal pay and discrimination.

"It's shocking in this day and age that this is still a fight we have to have," she said at the time.

Tesla said that it had thoroughly investigated the employee's allegations with the help of "a neutral, third-party expert" and concluded her complaints were unmerited. So it didn’t have to reform its operations.

"Despite repeatedly receiving special treatment at the expense of others, Vandermeyden nonetheless chose to pursue a miscarriage of justice by suing Tesla and falsely attacking our company in the press," a Tesla spokesperson said.

"After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Vandermeyden's claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla."

What was unusual about this case was that Vandermeyden stayed put after going public on her treatment. The normal procedure is to claim constructive dismissal and leave straight away.

However, by firing her, Tesla has created a bit of a PR storm for itself and been forced to defend its actions. From Vandermeyden’s perspective she becomes a victim of being a whistleblower of harassment at a company which is proud of its progressive reputation.

Tesla better hope that a court agrees with its “neutral, third-party expert" and that its investigation is not really a whitewash.

Last modified on 02 June 2017
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Read more about: