Tesla’s Black HR Quits the Firm.

Tesla’s Black HR Quits the Firm.

— The company’s most senior Black executive is departing.

— According to an internal report acquired by Bloomberg, Tesla’s HR boss Valerie Capers Workman is quitting the firm.

— “The Tesla of 2015 and 2016 is not the same as the Tesla of today,” Workman said.

Workman was one of Tesla’s most senior Black executives when he became the company’s head of HR in 2020. She defended Tesla after the business was found guilty of racial harassment in a high-profile case.

According to an internal email obtained by Bloomberg, Tesla’s most famous Black executive, Valerie Capers Workman, is leaving the firm.

Workman, who is one of Tesla’s highest-ranking Black employees, is set to join Handshake as chief legal officer, according to Bloomberg.

In 2021, Workman served as Tesla’s spokeswoman during a strong racial discrimination case. Owen Diaz, who claimed he was subjected to race discrimination while working as an elevator mechanic at Tesla’s Fremont factory, was awarded $137 million in losses by a jury.

“The Tesla of 2015 and 2016 (when Mr. Diaz worked in the Fremont factory) is not the same as the Tesla of today,” Workman said in a blog post after the judgement went against Tesla.

She claimed to have sat at Tesla’s defense table every day during the trial, and she attempted to try to sway the jury’s decision by citing facts from the case. The decision has been appealed by Tesla.

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Workman contrasted her experience at Tesla to her time in high school track and field sports, where she had to “hand off the baton in a better spot than when I received it,” this was based on the information in an internal email seen by Bloomberg.

Workman wrote in an email to Bloomberg that she was “sure that I have achieved this at Tesla with the execution of so many significant programs for staff worldwide,” according to Bloomberg.

“I am happy of what I was successful in accomplishing at Tesla with the help of absolutely exceptional colleagues, particularly the People and Legal teams,” she stated.

In 2020, Workman was promoted to Tesla’s chief of human resources. She began working for the corporation as an attorney in the legal department in 2018. According to Bloomberg, she directly reported to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla produced the first ever diversity report in 2020, during her tenure as HR chief, showing that only 4percent of the company’s top personnel was Black.