A female employee at Tesla who sued the company for discrimination has been fired, The Guardian reported Thursday.
Engineer A.J. Vandermeyden opened up about her experience at the car company in February, saying that it had ignored her complaints about “pervasive harassment” and unequal pay.”
The company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said that it had hired a “neutral, third-party expert” to investigate Vandermeyden’s allegations but ultimately arrived at the conclusion that the complaints were unfounded, according to The Guardian.
{mosads}“Despite repeatedly receiving special treatment at the expense of others, Ms Vandermeyden nonetheless chose to pursue a miscarriage of justice by suing Tesla and falsely attacking our company in the press,” a Tesla spokesperson said in a statement to The Guardian.
“After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Ms. Vandermeyden’s claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla.”
Vandermeyden’s attorney, Therese Lawless, accused Tesla of firing her client in retaliation for bringing the complaints in the first place, and that she intended to file a formal complaint.
“They’ve just proven our case. It’s clear retaliation,” she told The Guardian.”“Somebody is trying to instill in employees that when they speak out about matters they are legally allowed to speak out about, they too will be fired.”