A big-scale class motion lawsuit against Tesla over the treatment of black employees at its Fremont electric automobile factory will go before a jury next fall, a judge ordered this week.
It is the most important of several lawsuits – including from the state and federal governments – accusing the automaker, led by CEO Elon Musk, of allowing rampant racism against blacks on the plant where Tesla models S, X, Y and three are manufactured.
The case was filed in Alameda County Superior Court in 2017 by former Tesla worker Marcus Vaughn. Four other named plaintiffs were added: former employees Monica Chatman and Titus McCaleb, and current employees Chanel Hendrix and Garret Parker.
On Wednesday, Judge Nöel Wise set September 8 next 12 months as the beginning date for the jury trial.
Nearly 6,000 current and former black employees and contract employees on the plant have joined the lawsuit, and the number could rise to greater than 10,000 in the approaching months, a lawyer for the employees said.
Black employees say they’ve been subjected to racist abuse, graffiti, discrimination and harassment on the automaker led by CEO Elon Musk.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting the corporate from “maintaining a hostile work environment based on race” and requiring mandatory harassment training for all Tesla managers and employees.
“The same racism and harassment that existed in 2017 when we first filed this lawsuit is still present today,” said Bryan Schwartz, an attorney for the employees.
Tesla didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. The company has denied the employees' claims in a court filing, arguing, amongst other things, that the employees filed their claims late and acted in bad faith. Tesla said in a 2022 blog post that it “strongly opposes any form of discrimination and harassment” and claimed it “has always disciplined and fired employees who are guilty of misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or otherwise harass others.”
Of the greater than 200 Black employees who testified as a part of the lawsuit, about two-thirds said they saw anti-Black graffiti on the Fremont factory, including nooses, racial slurs and swastikas, and 1 / 4 said their supervisors called them the N-word. A court document lists greater than 50 anti-Black slurs allegedly hurled or scrawled on the factory. Nearly half of the employees said they complained to bosses, supervisors, managers or Tesla's human resources department, but the corporate failed to handle their concerns. Dozens said their complaints resulted in retaliation, including terminations, the document said.
In a May ruling, Judge Wise wrote that the testimony suggested that black employees on the Fremont plant were “subjected to conditions that could safely be characterized as racial harassment” over a period of about eight years.
If Tesla loses, it might not should pay damages under the category motion lawsuit. However, a whole bunch of employees have filed separate lawsuits looking for damages, and Schwartz expects a whole bunch more to follow.
Tesla is now facing several similar lawsuits alleging widespread racism against blacks in Tesla's operations.
In a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in federal court in San Francisco, Tesla has denied that black employees suffered retaliation for complaining about racial harassment. However, Judge Jacqueline Corley found that the commission's allegations that Tesla fired black employees inside weeks of their complaints of racial harassment, moved a black worker to a more demanding a part of the assembly line after she reported racial harassment to her supervisor, and repeatedly reprimanded one other worker who complained about racial harassment were enough to conclude that the actions taken against the employees were related to their complaints.
The California Department of Civil Rights alleges in a 2022 lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court that black employees on the Fremont factory are paid lower than white employees, denied opportunities for advancement, and subjected to each day racist abuse. Tesla described the lawsuit as “misguided” and “unfair.”
Last year, a jury awarded a former black Tesla employee $3.2 million. He sued the company in 2017 for “hateful racial harassment” and “on a regular basis racist abuse” at the Fremont plant.
Although a Tesla lawyer told the jury that what happened to Owen Diaz was neither “defensible nor right,” Musk tweeted in response to the jury's $3.2 million verdict: “If we had been allowed to present recent evidence, the decision would have been zero.”
Tesla's attempt to reduce damages in the Diaz case was rejected by Judge William Orrick, who pointed to “horrific, widespread racism” on the Fremont plant.
Originally published:
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