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Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

theguardian.com

111–118 of 118 posts

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#111
post #110
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its pretty difficult to argue that female sexual rights are not fundamental human rights when youve already established that liberty itself is "proven by political philosophy". "liberty is a fundamental human right unless youre born the wrong sex and want to govern your private parts"

On the surface, yeah. I certainly think that reproductive rights and protection from assault fall under liberty. But I don't think the right to not listen to guys talk how much they like big tits in the office necessarily falls under the classification of a "fundamental human right." My statement was about the claim that the legal definition of sexual harassment doesn't have a very robust argument for why it's a fund…

well, i was talking about sexual harassment. not hurt feelings.

this whole freedom from discomfort movement is going to blow up some day when nobody can say a word anymore because its going to offend someone.

but i do believe in certain topics not belonging in certain places. that includes both "locker room talk" and "extreme feminism".

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is happening a lot in today's PC climate, consciously or unconsciously. It's not a 100% merit-based system anymore. Maybe it never was, I dunno, but I do know some people can never be pleased and are always crying wolf. “[Her termination] was absolutely shocking for AJ. She is devastated,” Really? I find that very hard to believe. If you hate a company so much you're willing to SUE them and make it pub…

> It's not a 100% merit-based system anymore. This was never the case, at any point, ever.

The thing is, in recent years it's worse than it has ever been.

100% merit-based systems were never a thing but that doesn't mean a drop from, say, 85% to 60% isn't alarming and objectionable.

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#113

This sounds terrible for Tesla in many directions. Either she is right, in which case Tesla sounds very bad. Alternatively, Tesla is completely right (which I personally don't believe), in which case as they confess that : "Vandermeyden had been granted numerous positions “over other more qualified candidates” and was “given special treatment and opportunities for advancement that were unwarranted based on her qualif…

Seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario for Tesla. If you promote her, then you're being unfair to the more qualified other candidates. If you don't then you're discriminating against her.

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#114

This sounds terrible for Tesla in many directions. Either she is right, in which case Tesla sounds very bad. Alternatively, Tesla is completely right (which I personally don't believe), in which case as they confess that : "Vandermeyden had been granted numerous positions “over other more qualified candidates” and was “given special treatment and opportunities for advancement that were unwarranted based on her qualif…

Most companies would refuse to comment on a situation like this, especially one that is high profile. Based on Tesla's willingness to make such an incendiary public statement, I'm guessing they have a big pile of documentation to back it up. I agree that they probably just opened themselves up to other legitimate lawsuits. Oops.

[deleted]

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#115

>At the time, Vandermeyden said she was hopeful her lawsuit and public comments would not end her career at the company. How could she honestly expect to keep her job with an employer she is sueing and smearing in the media? Why would she even want to continue working there?

Why would she even want to continue working there?

Because she's not independently wealthy. And she's perfectly aware of the negative impact on prospective employers' willingness to hire here -- until and unless she's fully vindicated, at the end.

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#116
post #58
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps if the people responsible for the problems were fired instead?

She talked to the press when her allegations were found to be unmerited. Who's responsible for the problems again?

She talked to the press when her allegations were found to be unmerited.

When the company "said" they were unmerited, that is.

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#117

>At the time, Vandermeyden said she was hopeful her lawsuit and public comments would not end her career at the company. How could she honestly expect to keep her job with an employer she is sueing and smearing in the media? Why would she even want to continue working there?

Her employer is a company. Companies don't have the emotions people have. In large organisations, the effect of employee lawsuits may even be beneficial, because it allows for a mechanism to escalate serious issues before they become even worse, while the high barriers in terms of cost, emotional burden etc. serve to discourage frivolous complaints.

I'm no fan of Telsa but I feel like any large company with a decent PR team would be a little anxious with an employee suing you and talking publicly about it.

It's their job to make the company look good so it would seem logical they would want to try and get this water under the bridge.

If they thought it was valid, it seems the PR team would push for settlement without admitting wrongdoing but if they really do believe she is out on a limb, firing her does seems like the go to option and let it go to court to try and clear the charge.

Re: Tesla fires female engineer who alleged sexual harassment

#118
> In a statement to the Guardian, Tesla confirmed the company had fired Vandermeyden, saying it had thoroughly investigated the employee’s allegations with the help of a “a neutral, third-party expert” and concluded her complaints were unmerited.

> “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. “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.”

She tried to bully people utilising identity politics, the company got fed up and fired here. Too bad Tesla didn't also sue her back, it's a real shame that criminals like herself can get away with it, just because they are women. This encourages women to start weaponizing sexual harassment claims, they can gain a lot by bullying a company, yet they have nothing to lose.

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