Women In Tech: Tesla Dismisses Harassment Claim, Claims Woman Did Not Have ‘Formal Engineering Degree’

A Tesla spokesperson said in an email Wednesday that the female engineer who sued the electric car company last year for “pervasive harassment” and for paying her less than her male co-workers does not have any “formal engineering degree.”

In an interview with the Guardian, A.J. Vandermeyden, 33, said she was not only sexually harassed by men at the job, getting whistled or catcalled, but she was also severely underpaid since she could not advance in her career, mainly because less qualified men were getting promoted instead.

In an email sent to the International Business Times, Tesla said that Vandermeyden, who started working for the Palo Alto-based company in 2013, had in fact, “sought and moved into successive engineering roles, beginning with her work in Tesla’s paint shop and eventually another role in General Assembly,” despite her lack of a formal engineering degree.

The spokesperson said even after Vandermeyden filed a lawsuit against the company about the alleged discrimination, she “sought and was advanced into at least one other new role," which is "evidence of the fact that Tesla is committed to rewarding hard work and talent, regardless of background.”

Vandermeyden told the Guardian that Telsa always ignored her complaints about how unfairly she was treated, adding that management dismissed them.

"It's shocking in this day and age that this is still a fight we have to have,” she told the publication.

In the email, the spokesperson denied those claims and said they actually spoke about it.

“Ms. Vandermeyden first brought her concerns to us over a year ago, we immediately retained a neutral third party, Anne Hilbert of EMC2Law, to investigate her claims so that, if warranted, we could take appropriate action to address the issues she raised,” reads the email.

However, after an “exhaustive review of the facts,” Hilbert determined that Vandermeyden, who is still a current employee, claims “of gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation have not been substantiated.”

Vandermeyden said despite her public comments she still hopes to continue to work for Tesla. “Tesla is committed to creating a positive workplace environment that is free of discrimination for all our employees," the spokesperson said.