(Bloomberg) -- A member of a jury that awarded former Tesla worker Owen Diaz a staggering $137 million said Tuesday that Tesla uses contract employees as a way to mitigate their own responsibility for the culture within their factories.
The company does that to avoid “taking responsibility for the events and people within their factories,” said the juror, who asked not to be identified. “With the punitive damages we want Tesla to take the most basic preventative measures and precautions they neglected to take as a large corporation to protect any employee within their factory.”
Diaz, a former contract worker who was hired in 2015 through a staffing agency, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment at Tesla's auto plant in Fremont, California, the jury in San Francisco found Monday. The award is among the most significant verdicts of its kind.
Tesla Ordered to Pay $137 Million Over Racism in Rare Verdict
In a blog post Monday, Tesla said that “Mr. Diaz never worked for Tesla. He was a contract employee who worked for Citistaff.”
“We acknowledge that we still have work to do to ensure that every employee feels that they can bring their whole self to work at Tesla,” said Tesla in the blog post.
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