A female Tesla engineer who filed a sexual-discrimination lawsuit against the company in the fall is speaking out, further shining a spotlight on gender issues in Silicon Valley.
AJ Vandermeyden, who still works at the company, said in a newspaper interview that the Palo Alto-based electric-vehicle maker ignored her complaints of “pervasive harassment” including “inappropriate language, whistling and catcalls” on the factory floor and retaliated against her for raising concerns.
The 33-year-old also said she was paid less than men for doing the same work, and that she and other female engineers were denied promotions, according to the Guardian.
“Until somebody stands up, nothing is going to change,” Vandermeyden told the Guardian in her first comments about the 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.”
But Tesla says Vandermeyden was promoted within the company, and that a “neutral third party” investigation into her claims “have not been substantiated,” a Tesla spokeswoman told SiliconBeat in an email Tuesday afternoon.
“Ms. Vandermeyden joined Tesla in a sales position in 2013, and since then, despite having no formal engineering degree, she has sought and moved into successive engineering roles, beginning with her work in Tesla’s paint shop and eventually another role in General Assembly,” the Tesla spokeswoman said.
Her LinkedIn profile says Vandermeyden has a bachelor of science in microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics from the University of California Los Angeles.
Court documents show that Tesla has requested that Vandermeyden be compelled to enter into arbitration because she signed an arbitration agreement when she was hired by Tesla in 2013.
Vandermeyden’s public comments come at a time when Tesla is dealing with other workplace-related issues, including grumbling from employees about demanding work conditions and low pay, and talk about unionization. Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed the complaints in an email to employees in which he disputed the claims about poor working conditions and basically said the claims were union propaganda — last week.
According to the Guardian, Vandermeyden’s claims also include being denied overtime pay and rest and meal breaks when she worked in sales at Tesla.
The company also allegedly retaliated against her when she raised concerns about cars being sold in “a defective state.”
She also said most executive and management positions at Tesla are held by men, and that only two out of 30 vice presidents at the company are women.
Tesla does not release diversity reports about its workplace.
Referring to Vandermeyden’s claims, the Tesla spokeswoman said: “Even after she made her complaints of alleged discrimination, she sought and was advanced into at least one other new role, evidence of the fact that Tesla is committed to rewarding hard work and talent, regardless of background.”
Vandermeyden is being represented by Therese Lawless, who represented venture capitalist and former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao in her sexual-discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Vandermeyden’s accusations are similar to those raised by a former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, whose recent blog post has blown the sexual-harassment and discrimination issue wide open in the valley.
Uber hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate. Female Uber employees are looking for answers. Monday, Uber executive Amit Singhal was forced to resign after the company learned he had failed to disclose that he was accused of sexual harassment when he was at Google.
