A former black employee at a Tesla manufacturing plant got awarded $137 million for suffering "racial abuse". Apparently it was a "hostile work environment" and a few other workers there used the N-word. This was absolutely ridiculous. The business regulatory environment and ridiculous lawsuits in California are not good. The jury of course was in San Francisco. I don't think it was a coincidence that Tesla announced they were moving to Texas shortly after the $137 million award in the lawsuit was announced. Owen Diaz was hired as an elevator operator at Tesla's Fremont factory through an agency in 2015. In 2021 a jury awarded him $137 million in the lawsuit against the company. Diaz claimed that other workers told him to "go back to Africa". He claimed that racist that racist graffiti could be found in the bathrooms of the factory. The $137 million payout was later reduced down to $15 million by a judge who wrote in his opinion that the $137 million award an "unconstitutionally large" amount. Unsatisfied with that amount, Diaz then requested a retrial, which then resulted in his payout decreasing to $3.2 million. I think that was STILL excessive. Although at least far less ridiculously excessive by comparison to those other amounts. The latest update is that now Diaz's lawyers are claiming he "did not receive the free trial to which he was entitled" because of Tesla's "improper" line of questioning, saying that the use of "poisonous messaging" tainted the proceedings. He's trying to find an excuse to get a retrial for the third time. In my opinion this black man should not get ANY money. The lawsuit system in progressive areas in the U.S. is out of control. People are suing over non-financial damages, like racism or sexual harassment. This is not what the civil court system was originally meant for. It also demonstrates how the jury system does not always result in rational and reasonable decisions. In some cases that involve issues where lots of emotion is involved, it can be more like mob rule. sources: Black ex-Tesla worker awarded $3.2 million in a racial harassment case is seeking a new trial, saying 'poisonous messaging' made proceedings unfair, Business Insider, Sawdah Bhaimiya, May 10, 2023 Jury orders Tesla to pay $137 million to a former worker over racist treatment, New York Times, Niraj Chokshi, October 4, 2021
had to be more to it, two Juries found in his favor, how did the company respond to these acts? that often plays into it....
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-ex-tesla-worker-137-million-racial-abuse-n-word/ "In May, an arbitrator ordered Tesla to pay more than $1 million over similar allegations by another former Fremont factory worker. That employee alleged that co-workers called him a racial slur and supervisors ignored his complaints." the Company needs to start firing people if this is happening, take it serious
You write considerably more than this, but still never make a point, with your argument/complaint. Do you feel that workers should not be able to sue their employers over hostile work environments? I think that is something that is valid for a civil suit, in most if not all states. Or do you think that employees should not be able to sue employers, period? Like I said, it is not clear what is your basic position: what it is, which is so "ridiculous." Yes, the amount was excessive, but that was not set by the state of California, which you imply is culpable in this result you find objectionable-- it was set by the jury. And the California state judge, reduced it to only about 1/10th of what the jury had awarded. So, is it jury trials, which you are against?
The fact that you do not see how insane this is, that it needs to be explained to you, along with many other people in society apparently, is the real news story. I assumed it would be totally obvious how crazy and wrong this is. But I keep underestimating the progressive woke crowd, it seems. There were no real physical or real financial damages to that black worker. Arguably the company was not really at fault. They didn't intentionally cause or foresee this. The evidence that all the allegations actually happened was pretty flimsy or lacking. And you think millions of dollars are "fair" and reasonable compensation for how this man was allegedly treated? It's obvious not. I question the sanity and capability for logical reason of anyone who cannot see that. The "woke mob" just seems to think with emotion and stupid knee-jerk mental impulses. I almost don't see how democracy can function with those people being involved in it.
So then, your complaint is only that you feel, what the jury decided, was "ridiculous." I understand your argument. What you do not understand, is that the "insane" thing, would be for any individual to expect that he's going to agree with every single jury decision, in not just criminal, but in civil suits, and that his finding any particular decision to be "crazy and wrong," should imply that something needs to be done, to rectify the situation. What, then, do you propose, as a solution to the insanity, you see, in this one civil jury award? That was basically what I asked you, in my first reply, which in your answer, quoted above, you once again, fail to say. From what you have written so far, it seems that you are advocating for yourself to be given absolute power to dismiss any lawsuits that you personally find to be ridiculous, or unwarranted; basically, that your judgement on the matter, should supercede our current, jury system. Is that about right?
Well, this certainly seems to demonstrate what a slippery slope it can be to allow workers to sue their employers over so-called "hostile" work environments. In this particular story, it seems to me like this worker still had the same employment opportunity as anyone else, and it doesn't seem like they were trying to force the worker out of the job either.
But you weren't on the jury. Nor did you even listen to the entire trial. As long as it is a jury who delivers the verdict, I don't know how it is a "slippery slope," to allow workers to sue; some of those workers, even you would find, have legitimate cases. I guess, instead of asking if you'd felt that workers should be allowed to sue over "hostile work environments," I should have asked if you support the notion of citizen juries.
I think you are overestimating the intelligence and ability to have common sense of the average person in many of these progressive Democrat areas. Maybe some will find this to be a bit racist but I would bet money the majority of the persons on that jury were non-white. In the jury's mind, they are looking to "punish" the big company and send a message that this should never happen again. And they are happy to look for any excuse to take money from a "big rich company" and give the money to "one of the little people" (like another form of wealth redistribution). Also, when someone is accused of "racism", a lot of these people totally lose it, and the rational part of their brain turns off. Their brains are flooded with emotion, looking for any way to "get back", even if it doesn't actually involve justice concerning the case. It's a mob mentality. Also, in a lot of these activists minds, black automatically equals victim
here's the progressive mentality when put in such a position... (for my fellow coder bros) if (victim == color.Black) { Award(Reparations(ridiculousAmount)); } else { notBlack(true); Award(nil); }
