Tesla Is Accused of Fostering a Hostile Work Environment for Women

A view of Tesla’s factory floor in Fremont, Calif. (Steve Jurvetson / CC 2.0)

In recent years, numerous female tech employees have spoken up about Silicon Valley’s discriminatory work environments.

Now the high-end electric car company Tesla has joined the list of companies facing allegations of sexism and sexual harassment. The Guardian reported:

A female engineer at Tesla has accused Elon Musk’s car company of ignoring her complaints of “pervasive harassment”, paying her a lower salary than men doing the same work, promoting less qualified men over her and retaliating against her for raising concerns.

The allegations of AJ Vandermeyden, who still works at the celebrated electric car manufacturer, paint a picture of a hostile work environment dominated by men where inappropriate sexual behavior is tolerated and women face numerous barriers to advance their careers.

Vandermeyden spoke with The Guardian and elaborated on her complaint, which was filed with Tesla’s human resources department last fall:

Vandermeyden began at Tesla in 2013 and was eventually promoted to a manufacturing engineering position in the general assembly department, which consisted mostly of men and where she was paid less than male engineers whose work she directly took over, according to her complaint.

It was common for her to be the only woman in meetings with 40 to 50 men, she said on a recent morning, seated in the living room of her family’s house in San Carlos, the city where Tesla was founded, located across the bay from its current factory in Fremont.

Currently, all chief executive positions are held by men at Tesla, and out of more than 30 vice-presidents, only two are women, she added.

Vandermeyden also explained to The Guardian that the unwelcome, continual ‘’harassment by men on the factory floor includ[ed] but [was] not limited to inappropriate language, whistling, and catcalls.”

Read the full piece here.

—Posted by Emma Niles