Tesla loses bid to maneuver sexual harassment lawsuit to arbitration

May 24 (Reuters) - A California state judge has rejected Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) bid to ship a lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment on the company's flagship meeting plant to personal arbitration, allowing it to move ahead in court docket.

California Superior Court Choose Stephen Kaus in Oakland denied Tesla's movement to compel arbitration in a short order on Monday.

In a written opinion launched on Tuesday, Kaus stated Tesla had improperly pressured the plaintiff, Jessica Barraza, to signal an arbitration agreement after she had already quit her previous job.

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"Principally, Barraza was ambushed," the judge wrote.

Barraza in the lawsuit filed in November claims workers and supervisors on the Fremont, California plant routinely made lewd comments and gestures to female employees, and that the corporate failed to address complaints.

The lawsuit is one of at the very least seven pending in California state court docket to make related claims towards Tesla. Kaus is presiding over 5 extra of these instances.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

David Lowe, a lawyer for Barraza, called the decision "a victory for public accountability."

"Due to this ruling... Tesla will probably be judged by a jury of Ms. Barraza's friends in a public courtroom," Lowe said in an announcement.

Together with the pending sexual harassment claims, Tesla is going through separate lawsuits accusing it of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its crops. A California decide last month awarded $15 million to a Black former factory employee who said he was subjected to racist slurs and graffiti from coworkers. read extra

Tesla has said it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired employees who engaged in misconduct.

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Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Enhancing by Rosalba O'Brien

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