A federal agency on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing Tesla of discrimination against black employees who it said were bombarded with racial epithets, received worse work assignments than white workers and were fired when they complained.
Tesla managers were aware of the discrimination and verbal abuse, the lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission argues, but they didn’t do enough to stop it. The agency said it had filed a lawsuit after trying unsuccessfully to work out a plan with Tesla to address discrimination.
The lawsuit is the latest to accuse Tesla of widespread racism at its factory in Fremont, California, near San Francisco. This year, a jury awarded about $3.2 million to a Black man who had accused the automaker of ignoring racial abuse he faced while working as a contractor at the factory.
A group of about 240 Black men and women who have worked at Tesla since 2016 have asked a judge to grant them class-action status to file claims of racial discrimination, which included being routinely treated as “slaves,” “you,” and much worse things. .
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, now called the Department of Civil Rights, the state agency responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws, has also sued Tesla, alleging, among other things, that black workers are ” severely underrepresented” in management positions.
“It’s telling that every government agency and worker advocate looking at this situation has the same reaction,” Bryan Schwartz, an Oakland attorney representing plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit, said in an email. “Tesla’s racist harassment and discrimination against Black workers is horrific and illegal, and must be addressed in a systemic and class-based manner.”
Tesla’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
In a 2022 statement responding to the California agency’s lawsuit, Tesla said it “firmly opposes” all forms of discrimination. The company described that case as “a narrative woven” by the state agency and the plaintiffs’ law firms.
The EEOC lawsuit accuses Tesla of violating federal law by “engaging and continuing to discriminate against black employees at the Fremont factory by subjecting them to severe or pervasive racial harassment and creating a hostile work environment because of their race.” .
“The racial misconduct was frequent, continuous, inappropriate, unwanted, and occurred across all shifts, departments, and positions,” the lawsuit says.
Black employees were treated with racial epithets on a daily basis, according to the lawsuit, filed by the commission’s San Francisco District Office. Racist graffiti, including swastikas and references to the Ku Klux Klan, was scrawled on desks and bathrooms, elevators and even cars coming off the assembly line, according to the complaint.
Tesla managers witnessed the behavior and failed to stop it, according to the lawsuit. Employees who complained were punished with unpleasant work assignments or fired, according to the lawsuit.
One black employee said he had been disciplined for playing music after complaining about the misconduct. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said he encourages Tesla employees to play music on the assembly line and described the company as a “fun” place to work.
The commission’s lawsuit asks the federal court in Oakland to order Tesla to stop discriminating and retaliating against black workers and to compensate employees who have been mistreated. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages.
