Written by By Sam McGirk, CNN
A former Tesla worker in California has filed a sexual-harassment lawsuit against the company, according to a complaint filed in US district court on Tuesday.
Kimberly Bands has worked as a production worker at Tesla’s Fremont factory since 2015, the lawsuit states.
Bands has been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) stemming from sexual harassment she suffered from her managers while at Tesla, the complaint alleges.
Her attorney at the law firm Holcombe Finkelstein Grady & Nesbit, Tod Holcombe, said that Bands alleges that she was sexually harassed by several managers including one who she says touched her inappropriately and had a sexual relationship with her.
“Kimberly was forced to deal with her boss regularly making lewd comments, propositions, and touching her on the back while making sexually explicit comments about their sexual relationship and using a language that is somewhat demeaning,” Holcombe said in a statement.
Bands was also required to work without a break and made to do repetitive manual labor and work around the clock, the suit alleges.
“This treatment made it easy for her to continue to deny what she was experiencing, but once she realized that she needed help, she struggled to gain support and support,” Holcombe said.
Tesla declined to comment on the filing.
CNN has previously reported on the workplace harassment allegations against Tesla in reports earlier this year and again in March. In January, a former Tesla employee, Timothy Schnur, told CNN that he complained to company management several times about an abusive supervisor before leaving the company.