Who Is AJ Vandermeyden? Tesla Engineer Fired After She Sues Company For Sexism, ‘Pervasive Harassment’

Tesla fired a female engineer after she sued the company for “pervasive harassment,” unequal pay and sexism, the Guardian reported Thursday. The electric car manufacturer said it decided to fire engineer A.J. Vandermeyden after an internal investigation concluded her claims were unfounded.

Vandermeyden worked with Tesla for nearly four years before suing the company in 2016. In a February interview with the Guardian, Vandermeyden accused Tesla of tolerating inappropriate sexual behavior, promoting less qualified men over her, denying overtime pay, rest and meal breaks. She also alleged the Elon Musk-owned company failed to address her problems even after raising an objection.

Read: Uber President Jeff Jones Quits Amid Sexism, Sexual Harassment Scandals

However, a Tesla representative confirmed to the newspaper it dismissed the 33-year-old employee after a thorough investigation into her allegations by a “neutral, third-party expert” who found her claims were not justified.

“Despite repeatedly receiving special treatment at the expense of others, Vandermeyden nonetheless chose to pursue a miscarriage of justice by suing Tesla and falsely attacking our company in the press,” the representative told the Guardian in a statement Thursday. “After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Vandermeyden’s claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla,” the statement added.

Vandermeyden’s lawyer, Therese Lawless, argued her client’s firing only proved their case.

“It’s clear retaliation. Somebody is trying to instill in employees that when they speak out about matters they are legally allowed to speak out about, they too will be fired," Lawless said.

Lawless said the lawsuit was an attempt to make a fair workplace at Tesla.

"This was absolutely shocking for Vandermeyden. She is devastated. She brought the lawsuit in an attempt to make the workplace at Tesla more equitable and fair and to have Tesla comply with the law," Lawless added.

In her lawsuit, Vandermeyden claimed she was subjected to “whistling and catcalls” and female employees faced several obstacles that posed a threat to their career growth.

“Until somebody stands up, nothing is going to change. 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,” Vandermeyden told the newspaper February.

Vadermeyden’s case is one of several such allegations faced by Silicon Valley companies, including Uber. Susan J. Fowler, a former engineer at the ride-hailing service, made the sexual harassment allegations in her blog post. She alleged Uber did not take action on complaints about her boss soliciting her for sex.

“On my first official day rotating on the team, my new manager sent me a string of messages over company chat. … It was clear that he was trying to get me to have sex with him, and it was so clearly out of line that I immediately took screenshots of these chat messages and reported him to HR,” Fowler wrote in the Feb. 19 post.

The management told Fowler that the company “wouldn’t feel comfortable giving him anything other than a warning and a stern talking-to” because it was the manager’s “first offense,” the post read. She was reportedly told that “no further action could or would be taken.” After transferring teams, she found that several other female employees had faced similar harassment during their tenure at Uber. Following repeated allegations, the company announced an investigation into the claims.