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Female Engineer Sues Tesla, Describing a Culture Of 'Pervasive Harassment' (theguardian.com)
A female engineer has spoken out about a discrimination lawsuit against Tesla that she filed last year. AJ Vandermeyden, 33, has accused Tesla of ignoring her claims of "pervasive harassment" and says she has suffered "mental distress" and "humiliation." From a report on The Guardian: Vandermeyden, 33, shared her story with the Guardian at a time when Silicon Valley is reeling from the explosive allegations of former Uber engineer Susan Fowler. Offering a rare public account of discrimination from a tech worker who remains employed at her company, Vandermeyden said her dedication to Tesla motivated her to advocate for fair treatment and reforms -- despite the serious risks she knows she faces for going public. "Until somebody stands up, nothing is going to change," she said in a recent interview, her first comments about a discrimination lawsuit she filed last year. "I'm an advocate of Tesla. I really do believe they are doing great things. That said, I can't turn a blind eye if there's something fundamentally wrong going on." 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.
You mean "humanity"? There's 7 billion of us, that's not because men walk around with a rope around their balls and their cocks strapped into their buttcrack.
Women then complain that men don't make the first move anymore.
I'm not exactly surprised. In most cases where I see the office/design part interface with the shop/implementation part there is the potential for this kind of friction. Even in cases where harrassment is not of a sexual nature, it's common for simple vulgarity to creep in even if just as a reaction to the minor cuts and body wear and tear when working and the need for a certain amount of toughness in order to do the job.
Don't know enough about the salary aspect. She well might be underpaid becase of sexism, or she might have been brought in to do the job because they wanted someone that cost less in that role, and they didn't feel that the role justified the salary they previously paid.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
oh shit.. too late.
No we don't know she's an SJW trying to Kafkatrap Tesla.
No we have no evidence Musk is a rapist. Yes I know he's got a penis, that is not evidence.
Forgive me, but past accusations haven't exactly primed me to believe this. If true, it's absolutely something that should be corrected, and she should be lauded for having the courage to make it public. ...however, if it's sour grapes because she didn't get the promotion she wanted, I wonder if we'll ever hear about it?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
"I don't want to cast doubt on her claims" -> yes. Yes you clearly do, AC.
Same here - my last project manager was also in his early 30s and in charge of directing me, gathering product requirements and ensuring my work met specifications made far less than I did (but more than he did in his last position).
We also, as an established team, ribbed him for being the new guy and for trying to implement new processes (mostly good naturedly but there was a definite attitude of "I'm going to increase our productivity because I'm cool" - Think the Lieutenant in Aliens and you've got the right idea)
He didn't work out. Not because we didn't produce but because he couldn't wrangle his superiors to settle on requirements.
If he had been a woman I could've easily seen the rationale of "This only happened because I'm a woman - the whole environment was hostile" (Yeah - it was - your typical business political BS)
Ok, well, first off, this woman is not an "Engineer" in the sense that she holds any academic credentials or certifications (neither am I). The article clearly states she started working at Tesla in 2013, was *promoted* to vehicle assembly. She is an "assembly engineer" in the same way that a guy working on the floor at Ford making IC cars is.
After this, following claims that she was held to unreasonable performance standards and subject to sexual harassment on the shop floor, , she transfered to the "purchasing department", which Tesla was apparently glad to accomodate.
These are simple facts which may or may not be relevant to the case, which appears to me that Tesla hired this woman, and has been happy to allow her to shift roles in the company and build her skillset. Apparently, she just purchased a Model-S. I have worked in IT for 15 years, and I sure can't afford a Model-S. So, anyway, sounds like a pretty damned good job to me.
It is pretty common for people at that level not to understand more than basic comparison. It is very difficult to make ANY comparisons though without making that sort of assumption first. She should have kept the harassment separate from the allegations of unfair pay/advancement. The latter being found inaccurate will make her other claims suspect.
there is a shitton of evidence
Blog posts are not evidence. If you are aware of any actual evidence point it out.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
" where she was paid less than male engineers whose work she directly took over, according to her complaint."
So why accept/keep the job if she's unhappy with the compensation?
-Styopa
Technically, that's illegal.
it doesn't matter if it's customary.
And in a lawsuit, illegal actions are ... (wait for it) ... illegal.
News flash: you're no longer in a frat at Stanford.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Employment negotiation is a complex dynamic.
My first and only blue chip job, I was fairly junior just a few years into career yet I firmly established as able to deliver and innovate and provide tech that opened up alot of new rev for them, but always been rubbish at asserting and negotiation. Some freshly minted grads came in, barely could compile a hello world, and I found out they started on 20% more than me. Was so angry about it and acted out of character driven by the emotion of indignation. Kicked up about it, threatened to quit, quit and then shortly later sub contracted back to them at a ruthlessly high rate and tripled my income : arrangement didn't last long but I got my pound of flesh. That and other experiences since, when I eventually moved into management roles, hiring and managing staff etc, have helped me realise it is complex. You can't just tell someone find another job or be more assertive or whatever, it's not easy flicking a switch and becoming a different person: pretending to be an alpha when you are far from that. Fears and insecurities that come into play the power dynamic is heavily against the employee.
- Ignoring her complaints of “pervasive harassment”.
The article has specifics later: "harassment by men on the factory floor including but not limited to inappropriate language, whistling, and catcalls".
Not nice, but not wholly unexpected either.
This should be wholly unexpected and anyone fighting against this sort of culture should be given the benefit of the doubt. It is a travesty that this is considered "fine" in this day and age and I'll applaud anyone who bucks this trend.
If you're gonna demand proof all the time
Yep, pretty much. Proof or fuck off. The tyranny you'd inflict without due process is unacceptable. And if you either can't be bothered to capture the necessary proof or the facts are too subtle to detect then I'm not interested in your plight.
if getting by on your looks is NOT how you want to live
Lots of unattractive women that can't rely on their looks are richer than me. They get by just fine.
And for the record, zero evidence surfaced in this thread. Susan Fowler made an evidence free blog post. The rest is Internet sperg. At least Vandermeyden filed suit; her claims will be tested.
....being subtlety, constantly, subconsciously (on both sides!) told by society that your purpose is to be ogled, and then come back and tell me that you are not frustrated with how pervasive and draconian it feels....
Do you know what paradise is? It's when you're forced to invent new problems because all of your actual problems have been solved.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
from the article:
She is hopeful her lawsuit and public comments wonâ(TM)t end her career at a company she loves.
Would a sane person really think that suing the company they work for won't impact their future with the company?
Are you saying that sexual harassment is somehow required to be a creative, forward pushing company?
My company is leading the industry. We do stuff no one else can. And we don't have a culture where sexual harassment takes place or is acceptable.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Noting that both males and females are harassed is not a defense against sexual harassment; you don't have to be female to be sexually harassed. Plus we expect (and require by law) that workplaces be free of harassment *in general*, not just in the case of sexual harassment, so if your factory floor harasses people of any gender for any reason it's another problem, not an excuse.
It's *not* unreasonable for people to expect to go to work and not be harassed. It's the law. Attitudes like the one you express here are not only anti-social, they're actionable, and the only "snowflakes" in the process are the ones you can't control themselves well enough to act civilly for the few hours a day they are at work.