Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

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

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

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

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"Principally, Barraza was ambushed," the choose wrote.

Barraza in the lawsuit filed in November claims workers and supervisors on the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to feminine workers, and that the company failed to deal with complaints.

The lawsuit is one in all at the least seven pending in California state court to make comparable claims towards Tesla. Kaus is presiding over 5 more of those instances.

Tesla didn't immediately reply to a request for touch upon Tuesday.

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

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

Together with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is facing separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its crops. A California decide final month awarded $15 million to a Black former manufacturing facility worker who said he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. learn more

Tesla has stated it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired employees who engaged in misconduct.

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Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Enhancing by Rosalba O'Brien

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