A former security guard at Faraday Future’s headquarters is alleging the start-up of dismissing multiple reports of sexual harassment she filed against one of the company’s IT administrators and even accused her of “inviting the harassment.”
The allegation stems from a lawsuit filed this summer and uncovered on Monday by The Verge. (The news outlet published the filing here.)
The plaintiff, Genesis Reyes, argues in the complaint that Faraday was more concerned with keeping its “electric car efforts secret than it was with the safety of its employees,” according to The Verge.
Here’s more from The Verge:
She claims the security cameras in the area where she worked were turned off because it was the same place that Faraday Future tested the prototypes of its car, the FF91. And on one occasion, she claims an employee lost control of one of the prototypes and “accelerated rapidly backwards” into another car, and that she was asked not to prepare an accident report.
Reached on Monday by Jalopnik, a Faraday spokesperson said: “We can’t comment on pending litigation.”
In the suit, Reyes says she was fired after filing the complaints against the named defendant, Josue Alejandro Sanchez. The filing describes numerous instances over a few months this year where Sanchez allegedly harassed her, including “unwelcome or unwanted advances, sexual and lewd statements, unwanted touching, physical stalking, cyber-stalking, and acts of intimidation.”
“Despite knowing of such acts, neither Defendants Farraday [sic] nor G4s [Reyes’ employer] took corrective action and in fact condoned and/or ratified Sanchez’ acts,” the lawsuit states.
More from The Verge:
Reyes worked in what’s described as a “single person” security booth at the plant, and she alleges that across those three months, Sanchez repeatedly approached her, often at night, and asked her for her personal information.
Reyes claims that, after she denied those requests, Sanchez “leered and stared at [her] in a sexual way,” that he entered the guard booth and brushed against her, and also blocked her from exiting. Reyes also claims that, on at least one occasion, Sanchez followed her to the bathroom and waited for her outside the door.
Reyes’ says in the suit that she lodged multiple complaints with everyone from her shift leader to “numerous vice presidents,” but no action was taken by Faraday. In May, the suit says, she was fired.
The lawsuit, one of numerous cases that Faraday’s currently facing, comes as the company deals with financial struggles and the recent departure of several high-ranking executives. Just last week, Verge revealed that Faraday’s design head, Richard Kim, left the company—weeks after former CFO Stefan Krause and former CTO Ulrich Kranz tendered their resignations.
Separately, the Verge uncovered another complaint filed against Faraday—which you can view here—that accuses the company of failing to pay attorneys to negotiate the placement of Faraday’s car, the FF91, in an upcoming Transformers movie. Jalopnik first reported earlier this year that Faraday paid as much as $5 million for the placement.
Reyes case is scheduled for trial in December of 2018.