A federal jury decided that Owen Diaz, a lift operator at its Fremont factory from 2015 to 2016, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment.
But, the $137 million that he was initially granted in 2021 has been reduced by 98%.
Last year, a judge declared that the first sum was excessive.
On Monday, Mr. Diaz received $175,000 in emotional distress damages in addition to $3 million in punitive penalties.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, wrote on Twitter, “The verdict would’ve been zero imo if we had been allowed to add fresh evidence.”
“With the knowledge they had, the jury did their best. I acknowledge the choice “Added he.
Mr. Musk did not elaborate on the specifics of the further proof that Tesla would have offered.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Tesla, declined to comment. A BBC request for feedback received no quick response from the business.
In the company’s plant in Fremont, California, African-American employees, according to Mr. Diaz’s original lawsuit, “encountered a scene straight from the Jim Crow era.”
He asserted that restroom graffiti and racist comments directed towards black workers were commonplace.
Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that workers would use historically racist terms like “the plantation” to describe places where black or African-American employees worked.
A federal jury decided that Owen Diaz, a lift operator at its Fremont factory from 2015 to 2016, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Tesla, declined to comment. A BBC request for feedback received no quick response from the business.
In the company’s plant in Fremont, California, African-American employees, according to Mr. Diaz’s original lawsuit, “encountered a scene straight from the Jim Crow era.”
He asserted that restroom graffiti and racist comments directed towards black workers were commonplace.
Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that workers would use historically racist terms like “the plantation” to describe places where black or African-American employees worked.
