
Others are speaking up about discrimination at Tesla - ameen
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-sexual-harassment-discrimination-engineer-fired
======
thebiglebrewski
I am here to say (as a Tesla owner), that I truly hope this kind of behavior
is not being tolerated by Tesla. I would hope Elon Musk or someone high up at
the company investigates these claims. If they are baseless, they are
baseless, but they are still worth investigating and possibly taking
disciplinary and work process steps to fix them.

In regards to Vandenmeyer's story: from what I've read...I'm not sure I think
it's super credible. I certainly could be wrong though.

I want to believe in Tesla just as much as the next tech-focused person, but
of course I want them to have good corporate ethics and ferret out cases like
this/investigate them. I would hope meaningfully!

~~~
calafrax
I think Tesla's and Elon Musk's response of publicly attacking this woman
almost certainly indicates that they are at fault.

If this woman's claims were false they would do best to keep quiet and wait
for the legal process. They have a huge advantage with both the money to pay
lawyers and many fawning media outlets willing to support them so if they were
in the right they would be guaranteed to win if they just waited it out.

Going on the offensive is dangerous because it makes them look bad and draws
more attention to the story.

Attacking this woman would be very stupid unless they are actually in the
wrong, in which case it makes perfect sense as an attempt to intimidate other
employees into not speaking out.

~~~
bsder
> Attacking this woman would be very stupid unless they are actually in the
> wrong

Or unless they think they are _very_ right. I find them opening their mouth
_at all_ to be quite surprising. I find the firing _with a reason given_ even
_MORE_ surprising.

This is either complete and total incompetence (not at all impossible), or the
Tesla lawyers must think they are on amazingly solid ground.

~~~
qb45
> This is either complete and total incompetence (not at all impossible), or
> the Tesla lawyers must think they are on amazingly solid ground.

They seem to feel extremely confident indeed, this is from the previous the
Guardian article on this story:

 _Tesla has continued to strongly reject Vandermeyden’s claims. A spokesperson
said the company had “conducted a thorough internal investigation” and
“extensively re-reviewed all the facts”, repeatedly concluding that her
allegations were false._

------
village-idiot
What I see here is a mixture of tech's standard gender issues along with the
hazards of "changing the world".

If you think that you're changing the world, it's very easy to dismiss other
concerns as less important than your core mission. This problem only gets
worse if you actually are changing the world. At the end of the day, even
Tesla is just a company with a bunch of people working their day job, you do
need to make sure that your employees feel safe and enjoy their time there
within reasonable bounds

------
ams6110
> She also recalled receiving a T-shirt as a new employee that depicted Musk
> as a superhero

Wow. I think that would have me running for the door if that happened to me. I
know CEO egos are big but that's seriously narcissistic.

~~~
scient
Dont think these companies want to hire people who freak out over meaningless
things like this...

~~~
bjl
Having a severe narcissist as CEO is hardly 'meaningless'.

~~~
perfectstorm
we don't even know if it was Elon's idea.

~~~
Jach
Even if it was, I think if you're going to work for Elon as "just a regular
job" you're not going to last very long. Embrace the personality cult while it
lasts and work on something incredible with all of your focus.

------
jubalfh
(I wonder if the lovely gentlemen here realise that being a victim of
harassment is stressful enough to impact performance.)

~~~
village-idiot
Probably not.

------
driverdan
Can we get this switched from Verge's blogspam to the original source?
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-
sex...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-sexual-
harassment-discrimination-engineer-fired)

~~~
notadoc
Does Verge produce anything original or is it all blog regurgitation?

How much of the web today is blog revomit vs original content?

~~~
Dirlewanger
They were OK their first year or so, then they went the way of every other
reactionary "news" site and peddled clickbait and incendiary political op-eds.

~~~
cholantesh
Not sure what you mean by reactionary; they seem pretty centre-left.

------
MichaelBurge
This is a low-quality article, and should probably be changed to point to The
Guardian: [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-
sex...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/05/tesla-sexual-
harassment-discrimination-engineer-fired?CMP=share_btn_tw)

------
davexunit
Nearly all of the top-level comments thus far are disgusting and shameful.
What is wrong with this place?

~~~
novia
This satirical article kinda nails it:

[http://reductress.com/post/man-in-male-dominated-field-
says-...](http://reductress.com/post/man-in-male-dominated-field-says-being-a-
woman-is-actually-an-advantage/)

~~~
Klockan
I wouldn't be surprised if that exact conversation have actually happened.

~~~
village-idiot
Art imitates real life.

------
wiz21c
Is it me or we are reading more and more about abuses ? So I'd say this or
that company is not specifically problematic, but it's just women tend to be
more vocal about the "difficulties" they encounter on the work place (I don't
know how to express the fact that I think they are harassed but at the same
time, being European, I'm not sure that what I have in mind is the same for
those who read this; in my experience the harassment is subtle, it's more like
"a subtle dose of socially accepted misogyny" (which I personally find
unacceptable (I'm a man :) )

~~~
xbmcuser
1.) More women are speaking out as they feel they have a voice. 2.) More women
are in the higher positions so other women feel someone at the top will listen
to them.

