18 ms·

Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

186 points by prawn 4y ago

smugma 4y ago
That $15M he turned down is looking pretty good right now. “In October 2021, a jury awarded him $137 million in damages in the case, but a federal judge threw out that award as excessive. US District Judge William Orrick offered Diaz $15 million in damages in the case instead, but Diaz rejected the offer, choosing instead to have a new trial.”
ovao 4y ago
> [Former Tesla VP] Capers Workman, who is Black, has since left Tesla. Without commenting on the story or the case itself, I have to say that from a purely journalistic perspective, it is very weird to be calling out the race(s) of people related to a story when it’s not central or key to the reporting. The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout?
- wnevets 4y ago
  > The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, in a story about racism you think the person's race bear no relation to the story itself?
  - rayiner 4y ago
    How is the race of a member of the company’s management relevant to a lawsuit about alleged racism against workers in a factory?
    - wnevets 4y ago
      if Tesla's management was all white it would certainly play into the claim that Tesla is racist. However I did misread the story.
      - ipaddr 4y ago
        Because a black person can't be racist against another black person?
        wnevets 4y ago
        are you suggesting Workman was known to be racist against black people?
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    > in a story about racism you think the person's race bear no relation to the story itself? Capers Workman is (was) a VP, not the worker who made the racism claim. Though I think it is still fine to include her race, as it adds context to the statements she made.
  - theodorejb 4y ago
    By mentioning skin color in that sentence they seem to be implying it is connected to why she left the company. But they don't present any evidence of this, so why mention it?
    - ovao 4y ago
      That was my thought, yeah. It's either the case that I'm simply reading too much into it, or the author was trying to be suggestive as to a link between Workman's departure of the company and what's purported to be an environment of racism within Tesla. Workman claimed to have left Tesla in a better position than when she'd joined, which while vague, doesn't to me suggest that she left because it was an inherently racist environment.
- eganist 4y ago
  > The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout? I imagine the relation and relevance are apparent from the title of the article and submission: "Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit"
  - ovao 4y ago
    Valerie Capers Workman is not the former worker. She is the former VP of people at Tesla. She seems to have been involved in the suit insofar as she claimed she was in the courtroom during the trial, but beyond that, it's not clear to me why her race is worth specifically remarking upon.
  - sacrosancty 4y ago
    [dead]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- braunboffel 4y ago
  > The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout? I didn't understand 'callout'. "a statement drawing critical attention to someone's unacceptable actions or behaviour." You feel stating the race of the VP was a statement drawing critical attention to someone's unacceptable actions or behaviour?
  - theodorejb 4y ago
    call out: 1. To specify, especially in detail. 2. To order into service; to summon into service. 3. To yell out; to vocalize audibly; announce.
    - braunboffel 4y ago
      I noticed I got downvoted for trying to understand what someone was saying. Your answer helped a bit but I still don't really understand what OP was trying to say. In any case, it says a lot about communication on HN. I'd also like to know what people who downvoted were unhappy about my question.
      - ovao 4y ago
        The use of “callout” in this case is best summarized by the first definition. Said another way, I don’t understand why it’s worth specifying the race of Workman, since it seems to bear no relation to the story.
Overtonwindow 4y ago
After legal fees and taxes, that's about 500,000. Hope it was worth it.
- User23 4y ago
  Judgments aren't taxable income.
  - yellow_lead 4y ago
    It depends, actually.
    - jimt1234 4y ago
      Please explain. Genuinely interested. Thanks.
      - starbase 4y ago
        Judgement for wages owed: taxable as wages Judgement for damage: non-taxable
      - yellow_lead 4y ago
        Sorry not an expert but I read that it depends on what type of judgement you receive. If it's wages owed, as a sibling comment said, you have to pay taxes. Medical judgement - no. Punitive damages - yes. I found this article as well which explains more in depth https://www.picnictax.com/are-legal-settlements-taxable-tax-implications-of-settlements-and-judgments/ https://www.picnictax.com/are-legal-settlements-taxable-tax-...
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  Depends on if the goal was a payday, or to send a message.
  - devrand 4y ago
    Well they did reject a $15m payout after they won the first trial.
renewiltord 4y ago
The whole thing is quite fascinating. 1. This contractor complained about racist slurs 2. Tesla fired two contractors who were identified as participating in this 3. Tesla suspended one who drew a racist cartoon 4. Tesla did the usual corporate training stuff. This news article is light on content, so I'm going to have to go read what new facts came about in the actual case and I really don't care enough to do that, so I'm hoping someone here has :) If it was only that which I thought it was, then I'm not sure what should have been done instead.
- throwaway34058 4y ago
  The LA Times wrote several in depth pieces investigating Tesla. It wasn't just what you've listed, it was far beyond what is acceptable at any employer anywhere. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesla-employees-fremont-plant-racism-california-lawsuit https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesl...
  - bagels 4y ago
    https://archive.is/6thFj https://archive.is/6thFj
  - AardvarkAnon 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - vore 4y ago
      "loxist"? Excuse me? Did you also want to include a swastika in your comment?
      - AardvarkAnon 4y ago
        [flagged]
  - renewiltord 4y ago
    Thanks for the link. That was very helpful. I'll provide a short summary of what I read (not full article) since it's a big article. Lots of people are doing the suing: - People used racist language and wrote that stuff places - Immediate action was taken but then effectively rescinded (a guy was fired for being racist but brought back in a non-supervisory role) - 'Soft' retaliation occurred: they were forgiving of people making errors but if you had previously complained, then one mistake would end up with you being fired - Race-based task discrimination is claimed: Black employees cleaned while White and Hispanic employees took a rest break At that point I stopped reading, since that was good enough for me to know that it is definitely more than I initially thought.
Spivak 4y ago
> Tesla has denied the charges that the situation was as bad as alleged in the two suits, but it has admitted there were problems which needed to be addressed at the plant [...] We do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect. We’re still not perfect. But we have come a long way from 5 years ago. Discrimination lawsuits are not exactly an easy thing to win, it usually becomes unbearable long before it's overt enough you can take it to court. If we're at the point where he won and this is by the VPs own admission significantly better than 5 years ago then good lord.
- _8j50 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - xupybd 4y ago
    I don't think that is fair. I don't think he has pushed a culture of racism but one of rapid growth. That rapid growth has allowed racism to grow unchecked, and that is a failure of management at the highest level. But, to say that is the same as joining the klan goes beyond hyperbole.
    - _8j50 4y ago
      I don't care what caused it, right now he is denying there is a culture of racism that needs to be weeded out despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. I am not saying elon is neccesarily racist but his denial of it and obvious pepetuation of it (and this isn't being called names, look at the actual suits, this is the shit you see in jim crow era movies) means if you support him knowing this you support that also. You can admire his accomplishments but you can't support only part of someome, you support all of this stuff too. The klan made theit stance obvious they didn't hide it. That's what I am encouraging, if you're going to support racism don't hide behind meaningless excuses.
  - decremental 4y ago
    [flagged]
publicmenace 4y ago
[flagged]
- no_butterscotch 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - shadowgovt 4y ago
    Question: why is it absurd?
- peter422 4y ago
  You can't even type the word and yet you think it's fine for somebody to be called that at a workplace?
  - DangitBobby 4y ago
    They didn't say it was okay.
  - publicmenace 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - peter422 4y ago
      I'm guessing you are not familiar with the case and only read the CNN coverage. Employers have responsibilities to maintain certain standards at a workplace. Tesla absolutely flaunted those standards to a ridiculous degree. The first jury on the case awarded over $100 million to the plaintiff. Go look at the evidence presented in the trial. It's not one bad word being used once.
      - notch898a 4y ago
        I'd argue it's a first amendment violation for the state to require an employee be fired or reprimanded for saying/writing mean words; but that's not to say there wasn't more to it than that. The civil rights act itself is a slap in the face of the 10th amendment and should be repealed post haste.
Teever 4y ago
[flagged]
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  [flagged]
- BenSahar 4y ago
  It’s a cult of personality created by 10+ years of fawning press coverage.
  - KennyBlanken 4y ago
    It's also his bullying and bigotry. He's admired by a lot of people who have gotten into trouble for saying bigoted things, who felt that there was nothing wrong with what they said or did (scroll up to see someone complaining that this is about "getting offended by some words and a picture") or refuse to acknowledge concepts like systemic racism...and think they were wronged. Victims of liberals, wokeness, "PC police" and so on. They see him saying the same sort of things they did, and mistake the ability of an oligarch to escape consequences for almost anything...for "courage" and "free thinking."
  - Teever 4y ago
    I don't think it's just fans. I think Musk pays people to bot social media.
  - panick21_ 4y ago
    Its kind of funny to claim 10+ years of fawning press coverage when the reality was that electric cars and by extension Musk go ridiculed and called dangerous and unsafe in the media. The same goes for every little issue with SpaceX. Coverage of Musk has always been mixed and in main stream media often covered negatively. Maybe in the more techy press it was mostly positive. But even then, go threw history here on HN. The idea that Tesla was scam and just about to go bankrupt was common wisdom and anybody who disagree got down-voted. So the idea that positive press coverage is responsible is kind or ridiculous. Its more like its the endless pro-vs-anti Musk wars that lead to this effect. And that happens in the media as it does on HN.
polar8 4y ago
[flagged]
- vkou 4y ago
  > He reported he regularly heard racial slurs > and saw racist graffiti in bathrooms > and a racially insensitive cartoon. You're going to have to try a lot harder than call me an n-word once for the suit to stick. And if you actually pull it off, it means that both your manager and HR are both asleep at the wheel.
  - publicmenace 4y ago
    [flagged]
Animats 4y ago
It's amazing how big the settlements are for discrimination lawsuits vs. other labor law violations. Wage and hour violations get a slap on the wrist. Safety violations seldom cost a company more than a few thousand dollars unless someone is killed, and even then payments rarely exceed 5 figures.
- publicmenace 4y ago
  [flagged]
- smt88 4y ago
  > Wage and hour violations get a slap on the wrist It's very easy to calculate financial harm, and for an individual worker, even multiplying that harm by 10x isn't going to be a "significant" amount for a large-ish company. In this random case, the company was ordered to pay the wages and then the same amount on top of that for the damage caused[1], so it was 2x total. > Safety violations seldom cost a company more than a few thousand dollars unless someone is killed, and even then payments rarely exceed 5 figures. This isn't true. Just looking at some random, low-profile cases, you can easily find awards in the six figures[2]. Anyway, what's your point? 1. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220810 https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220810 2. https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/06222022 https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/06222022
  - thaumasiotes 4y ago
    > Anyway, what's your point? I'm not Animats, but there might be a suggestion that being discriminated against is not actually worse than being killed.
    - notch898a 4y ago
      Looks like being discriminated against in this case is roughly worth the same as having a limb cutoff according to one law firm. I don't want to be presumptuous and say that feeling discrimination on the job is better than having your arm cut off though, maybe it does feel worse. https://www.losangelespersonalinjurylawyers.co/average-case-value-amputation/ https://www.losangelespersonalinjurylawyers.co/average-case-...
diebeforei485 4y ago
They didn't want to accept $15M from the original trial, they demanded a retrial and ended up with $3M. Should have taken the $15M. I'm not sure $3M leaves anything for the worker after legal costs.
- harvey9 4y ago
  Agree. 15m achieves two things: not a lot of money in Tesla terms but enough that it is noticed and would be a motivation to avoid similar claims. And enough after legal costs that the plaintiff never has to work there again.
- tasuki 4y ago
  I really wonder what was in their mind... I wouldn't take the $15M if: - I were very sure the eventual settlement would be much higher and relatively soon. - I were very wealthy already and just wanted to make a statement. - The legal costs would eat up vast majority of the $15M.
ethicalsmacker 4y ago
[flagged]
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  It's less about the plaintiff being "offered" $15M (not the way I'd phrase "awarded in a lawsuit") and more about taking from Tesla an amount that would show up on their balance books and have to be explained to investors. "So, tell us more about how you had to lose $15 million because you can't be bothered to keep your workplace from turning into a Klan-friendly zone? Any plans to prevent that in the future?"
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- throwmeaway1212 4y ago
  Some people think racism is bad, and that doing bad things should have some kind of repercussions and that companies have responsibilities around what happens in the workplace. Shocking I know.
  - polski-g 4y ago
    Well then the individuals who did the "bad things" should be punished, not Tesla.
    - throwmeaway1212 4y ago
      Companies have a responsibility to make sure harassment doesn't take place. 'Failing to provide a work environment free of racial harassment is a form of discrimination' see https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/section-15-race-and-color-discrimination#VIIA https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/section-15-race-and-color... Similar to unsafe work places, such as if an accident occurs at work then the business can be held responsible for not caring about safety.
  - encryptluks2 4y ago
    [dead]
ud0 4y ago
sweet
stn_za 4y ago
Of course it's CNN
sacrosancty 4y ago
[dead]
Proven 4y ago
[dead]
hermannj314 4y ago
Since 2021, the damages have been calculated by the brilliant minds of our legal system as $137 million, $15 million, and now $3 million. But don't you dare question the outcome in the comments here, this is serious lawyer stuff. Hell of a hustle the lawyers have built. They manage a cartel that is slow, labor inefficient and has horrendous quality control. (I almost forgot, the cartel requires I tell you I am not a member of their cartel and this is not cartel advice. If I don't tell you this, they will send someone to hurt me financially)
- cool_dude85 4y ago
  Sorry, you believe that if you don't add a comment to your Hacker News post to say you're not a lawyer, someone will sue you?
dwan128 4y ago
[flagged]

186 points by prawn 4y ago

That $15M he turned down is looking pretty good right now. “In October 2021, a jury awarded him $137 million in damages in the case, but a federal judge threw out that award as excessive. US District Judge William Orrick offered Diaz $15 million in damages in the case instead, but Diaz rejected the offer, choosing instead to have a new trial.”

ovao 4y ago

> [Former Tesla VP] Capers Workman, who is Black, has since left Tesla. Without commenting on the story or the case itself, I have to say that from a purely journalistic perspective, it is very weird to be calling out the race(s) of people related to a story when it’s not central or key to the reporting. The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout?

wnevets 4y ago
> The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, in a story about racism you think the person's race bear no relation to the story itself?
- rayiner 4y ago
  How is the race of a member of the company’s management relevant to a lawsuit about alleged racism against workers in a factory?
  - wnevets 4y ago
    if Tesla's management was all white it would certainly play into the claim that Tesla is racist. However I did misread the story.
    - ipaddr 4y ago
      Because a black person can't be racist against another black person?
      - wnevets 4y ago
        are you suggesting Workman was known to be racist against black people?
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > in a story about racism you think the person's race bear no relation to the story itself? Capers Workman is (was) a VP, not the worker who made the racism claim. Though I think it is still fine to include her race, as it adds context to the statements she made.
- theodorejb 4y ago
  By mentioning skin color in that sentence they seem to be implying it is connected to why she left the company. But they don't present any evidence of this, so why mention it?
  - ovao 4y ago
    That was my thought, yeah. It's either the case that I'm simply reading too much into it, or the author was trying to be suggestive as to a link between Workman's departure of the company and what's purported to be an environment of racism within Tesla. Workman claimed to have left Tesla in a better position than when she'd joined, which while vague, doesn't to me suggest that she left because it was an inherently racist environment.
eganist 4y ago
> The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout? I imagine the relation and relevance are apparent from the title of the article and submission: "Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit"
- ovao 4y ago
  Valerie Capers Workman is not the former worker. She is the former VP of people at Tesla. She seems to have been involved in the suit insofar as she claimed she was in the courtroom during the trial, but beyond that, it's not clear to me why her race is worth specifically remarking upon.
- sacrosancty 4y ago
  [dead]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
braunboffel 4y ago
> The race of Workman seems to bear no relation to the story itself, so why the callout? I didn't understand 'callout'. "a statement drawing critical attention to someone's unacceptable actions or behaviour." You feel stating the race of the VP was a statement drawing critical attention to someone's unacceptable actions or behaviour?
- theodorejb 4y ago
  call out: 1. To specify, especially in detail. 2. To order into service; to summon into service. 3. To yell out; to vocalize audibly; announce.
  - braunboffel 4y ago
    I noticed I got downvoted for trying to understand what someone was saying. Your answer helped a bit but I still don't really understand what OP was trying to say. In any case, it says a lot about communication on HN. I'd also like to know what people who downvoted were unhappy about my question.
    - ovao 4y ago
      The use of “callout” in this case is best summarized by the first definition. Said another way, I don’t understand why it’s worth specifying the race of Workman, since it seems to bear no relation to the story.

Overtonwindow 4y ago

After legal fees and taxes, that's about 500,000. Hope it was worth it.

User23 4y ago
Judgments aren't taxable income.
- yellow_lead 4y ago
  It depends, actually.
  - jimt1234 4y ago
    Please explain. Genuinely interested. Thanks.
    - starbase 4y ago
      Judgement for wages owed: taxable as wages Judgement for damage: non-taxable
    - yellow_lead 4y ago
      Sorry not an expert but I read that it depends on what type of judgement you receive. If it's wages owed, as a sibling comment said, you have to pay taxes. Medical judgement - no. Punitive damages - yes. I found this article as well which explains more in depth https://www.picnictax.com/are-legal-settlements-taxable-tax-implications-of-settlements-and-judgments/ https://www.picnictax.com/are-legal-settlements-taxable-tax-...
rootusrootus 4y ago
Depends on if the goal was a payday, or to send a message.
- devrand 4y ago
  Well they did reject a $15m payout after they won the first trial.

renewiltord 4y ago

The whole thing is quite fascinating. 1. This contractor complained about racist slurs 2. Tesla fired two contractors who were identified as participating in this 3. Tesla suspended one who drew a racist cartoon 4. Tesla did the usual corporate training stuff. This news article is light on content, so I'm going to have to go read what new facts came about in the actual case and I really don't care enough to do that, so I'm hoping someone here has :) If it was only that which I thought it was, then I'm not sure what should have been done instead.

throwaway34058 4y ago
The LA Times wrote several in depth pieces investigating Tesla. It wasn't just what you've listed, it was far beyond what is acceptable at any employer anywhere. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesla-employees-fremont-plant-racism-california-lawsuit https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-tesl...
- bagels 4y ago
  https://archive.is/6thFj https://archive.is/6thFj
- AardvarkAnon 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - vore 4y ago
    "loxist"? Excuse me? Did you also want to include a swastika in your comment?
    - AardvarkAnon 4y ago
      [flagged]
- renewiltord 4y ago
  Thanks for the link. That was very helpful. I'll provide a short summary of what I read (not full article) since it's a big article. Lots of people are doing the suing: - People used racist language and wrote that stuff places - Immediate action was taken but then effectively rescinded (a guy was fired for being racist but brought back in a non-supervisory role) - 'Soft' retaliation occurred: they were forgiving of people making errors but if you had previously complained, then one mistake would end up with you being fired - Race-based task discrimination is claimed: Black employees cleaned while White and Hispanic employees took a rest break At that point I stopped reading, since that was good enough for me to know that it is definitely more than I initially thought.

Spivak 4y ago

> Tesla has denied the charges that the situation was as bad as alleged in the two suits, but it has admitted there were problems which needed to be addressed at the plant [...] We do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect. We’re still not perfect. But we have come a long way from 5 years ago. Discrimination lawsuits are not exactly an easy thing to win, it usually becomes unbearable long before it's overt enough you can take it to court. If we're at the point where he won and this is by the VPs own admission significantly better than 5 years ago then good lord.

_8j50 4y ago
[flagged]
- xupybd 4y ago
  I don't think that is fair. I don't think he has pushed a culture of racism but one of rapid growth. That rapid growth has allowed racism to grow unchecked, and that is a failure of management at the highest level. But, to say that is the same as joining the klan goes beyond hyperbole.
  - _8j50 4y ago
    I don't care what caused it, right now he is denying there is a culture of racism that needs to be weeded out despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. I am not saying elon is neccesarily racist but his denial of it and obvious pepetuation of it (and this isn't being called names, look at the actual suits, this is the shit you see in jim crow era movies) means if you support him knowing this you support that also. You can admire his accomplishments but you can't support only part of someome, you support all of this stuff too. The klan made theit stance obvious they didn't hide it. That's what I am encouraging, if you're going to support racism don't hide behind meaningless excuses.
- decremental 4y ago
  [flagged]

publicmenace 4y ago

[flagged]

no_butterscotch 4y ago
[flagged]
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  Question: why is it absurd?
peter422 4y ago
You can't even type the word and yet you think it's fine for somebody to be called that at a workplace?
- DangitBobby 4y ago
  They didn't say it was okay.
- publicmenace 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - peter422 4y ago
    I'm guessing you are not familiar with the case and only read the CNN coverage. Employers have responsibilities to maintain certain standards at a workplace. Tesla absolutely flaunted those standards to a ridiculous degree. The first jury on the case awarded over $100 million to the plaintiff. Go look at the evidence presented in the trial. It's not one bad word being used once.
    - notch898a 4y ago
      I'd argue it's a first amendment violation for the state to require an employee be fired or reprimanded for saying/writing mean words; but that's not to say there wasn't more to it than that. The civil rights act itself is a slap in the face of the 10th amendment and should be repealed post haste.

Teever 4y ago

[flagged]

seattle_spring 4y ago
[flagged]
BenSahar 4y ago
It’s a cult of personality created by 10+ years of fawning press coverage.
- KennyBlanken 4y ago
  It's also his bullying and bigotry. He's admired by a lot of people who have gotten into trouble for saying bigoted things, who felt that there was nothing wrong with what they said or did (scroll up to see someone complaining that this is about "getting offended by some words and a picture") or refuse to acknowledge concepts like systemic racism...and think they were wronged. Victims of liberals, wokeness, "PC police" and so on. They see him saying the same sort of things they did, and mistake the ability of an oligarch to escape consequences for almost anything...for "courage" and "free thinking."
- Teever 4y ago
  I don't think it's just fans. I think Musk pays people to bot social media.
- panick21_ 4y ago
  Its kind of funny to claim 10+ years of fawning press coverage when the reality was that electric cars and by extension Musk go ridiculed and called dangerous and unsafe in the media. The same goes for every little issue with SpaceX. Coverage of Musk has always been mixed and in main stream media often covered negatively. Maybe in the more techy press it was mostly positive. But even then, go threw history here on HN. The idea that Tesla was scam and just about to go bankrupt was common wisdom and anybody who disagree got down-voted. So the idea that positive press coverage is responsible is kind or ridiculous. Its more like its the endless pro-vs-anti Musk wars that lead to this effect. And that happens in the media as it does on HN.

polar8 4y ago

[flagged]

vkou 4y ago
> He reported he regularly heard racial slurs > and saw racist graffiti in bathrooms > and a racially insensitive cartoon. You're going to have to try a lot harder than call me an n-word once for the suit to stick. And if you actually pull it off, it means that both your manager and HR are both asleep at the wheel.
- publicmenace 4y ago
  [flagged]

Animats 4y ago

It's amazing how big the settlements are for discrimination lawsuits vs. other labor law violations. Wage and hour violations get a slap on the wrist. Safety violations seldom cost a company more than a few thousand dollars unless someone is killed, and even then payments rarely exceed 5 figures.

publicmenace 4y ago
[flagged]
smt88 4y ago
> Wage and hour violations get a slap on the wrist It's very easy to calculate financial harm, and for an individual worker, even multiplying that harm by 10x isn't going to be a "significant" amount for a large-ish company. In this random case, the company was ordered to pay the wages and then the same amount on top of that for the damage caused[1], so it was 2x total. > Safety violations seldom cost a company more than a few thousand dollars unless someone is killed, and even then payments rarely exceed 5 figures. This isn't true. Just looking at some random, low-profile cases, you can easily find awards in the six figures[2]. Anyway, what's your point? 1. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220810 https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220810 2. https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/06222022 https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/national/06222022
- thaumasiotes 4y ago
  > Anyway, what's your point? I'm not Animats, but there might be a suggestion that being discriminated against is not actually worse than being killed.
  - notch898a 4y ago
    Looks like being discriminated against in this case is roughly worth the same as having a limb cutoff according to one law firm. I don't want to be presumptuous and say that feeling discrimination on the job is better than having your arm cut off though, maybe it does feel worse. https://www.losangelespersonalinjurylawyers.co/average-case-value-amputation/ https://www.losangelespersonalinjurylawyers.co/average-case-...

diebeforei485 4y ago

They didn't want to accept $15M from the original trial, they demanded a retrial and ended up with $3M. Should have taken the $15M. I'm not sure $3M leaves anything for the worker after legal costs.

harvey9 4y ago
Agree. 15m achieves two things: not a lot of money in Tesla terms but enough that it is noticed and would be a motivation to avoid similar claims. And enough after legal costs that the plaintiff never has to work there again.
tasuki 4y ago
I really wonder what was in their mind... I wouldn't take the $15M if: - I were very sure the eventual settlement would be much higher and relatively soon. - I were very wealthy already and just wanted to make a statement. - The legal costs would eat up vast majority of the $15M.

ethicalsmacker 4y ago

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shadowgovt 4y ago
It's less about the plaintiff being "offered" $15M (not the way I'd phrase "awarded in a lawsuit") and more about taking from Tesla an amount that would show up on their balance books and have to be explained to investors. "So, tell us more about how you had to lose $15 million because you can't be bothered to keep your workplace from turning into a Klan-friendly zone? Any plans to prevent that in the future?"
deleted 4y ago
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throwmeaway1212 4y ago
Some people think racism is bad, and that doing bad things should have some kind of repercussions and that companies have responsibilities around what happens in the workplace. Shocking I know.
- polski-g 4y ago
  Well then the individuals who did the "bad things" should be punished, not Tesla.
  - throwmeaway1212 4y ago
    Companies have a responsibility to make sure harassment doesn't take place. 'Failing to provide a work environment free of racial harassment is a form of discrimination' see https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/section-15-race-and-color-discrimination#VIIA https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/section-15-race-and-color... Similar to unsafe work places, such as if an accident occurs at work then the business can be held responsible for not caring about safety.
- encryptluks2 4y ago
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ud0 4y ago

sweet

stn_za 4y ago

Of course it's CNN

sacrosancty 4y ago

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Proven 4y ago

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hermannj314 4y ago

Since 2021, the damages have been calculated by the brilliant minds of our legal system as $137 million, $15 million, and now $3 million. But don't you dare question the outcome in the comments here, this is serious lawyer stuff. Hell of a hustle the lawyers have built. They manage a cartel that is slow, labor inefficient and has horrendous quality control. (I almost forgot, the cartel requires I tell you I am not a member of their cartel and this is not cartel advice. If I don't tell you this, they will send someone to hurt me financially)

cool_dude85 4y ago
Sorry, you believe that if you don't add a comment to your Hacker News post to say you're not a lawyer, someone will sue you?

dwan128 4y ago

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