After Uber, Tesla Is Also Getting Sued Over Harassment Claims

This is a bad time for the tech industry, with allegations of sexual harassment becoming a dime a dozen. Uber was one of the bigger fish that got hooked by a former programmer who revealed that the company was complicit in encouraging abuse within its ranks. The situation got so bad that one of its executives was even forced to step down. Now, Tesla is in the crosshairs of a female worker.

AJ Vandermeyden is a 33-year-old engineer who still works for Tesla but has already filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that it was biased against women, The Guardian reports. In an exclusive interview, the publication provided Vandermeyden with the platform to air her grievances, which allowed her to paint a rather grim picture of a workplace that was the very definition of hostility towards female workers.

Vandermeyden said that female engineers at Tesla were often passed over promotions more than men and were paid less than their male counterparts. She also notes how most of the executive positions were filled by men, which was made clear by how she was often the only woman during meetings.

“Until somebody stands up, nothing is going to change,” she recently said. “I’m an advocate of Tesla. I really do believe they are doing great things. That said, I can’t turn a blind eye if there’s something fundamentally wrong going on.”

The lawsuit that Vandermeyden filed is over a year old, The Verge reports, which didn’t really receive much attention until now. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff experienced “unwanted and pervasive harassment” from the predominantly male workplace, along with inappropriate behavior from her male coworkers.

As for Tesla, a spokesperson for the company responded by providing details pertaining to Vandermeyden’s employment history. After commissioning Anne Hilbert of EMC2Law to investigate these reports independently, the spokesperson said that the lawsuit is misleading.