Tesla plant faces another lawsuit claiming bias and harassment
Electric-car maker Tesla was sued again Thursday, this time by a group of current and former African American workers at its Fremont factory who say they were subject to racist graffiti, slurs and harassment they said the company and managers knew about but did nothing to stop.
The complaint lists more than a dozen current and former Tesla workers, but also lists dozens of Tesla employees as defendants.
It was not immediately clear if any of the employees had signed mandatory arbitration agreements, which Tesla has used in the past, or how that could affect the ability to bring the case in state court.
The plaintiffs, “have been subjected to offensive racist comments and offensive racist behavior and discipline by colleagues, leads, supervisors, managers, and/or Human Resources personnel on a daily basis,” the suit said.
Tesla, which is owned by Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment and has not for more than a year, amid reports its public relations and press department was dismantled last year.
When a similar suit alleging a culture of racialized abuse at the company’s Fremont production facility was brought earlier this year by state regulators, the company responded with a preemptive blog post saying it took racial discrimination seriously, investigated claims and terminated those it found responsible.
Jasmine Wilson, the first named plaintiff in the suit filed Thursday, worked as a quality inspector at the plant from August 2021 to March 2022. During that time she was the target of racial epithets and catcalling from leads, supervisors and managers — many of whom assumed she was a production associate because she was African American, and admonished her for not doing that job and wearing the uniform for that role, according to the filing.
She was also subjected to sexualized comments about her body by a production associate identified as Lavell Doe, who was joined by two others identified as Victor Doe and Nora Doe.
When Wilson reported the incidents, the human resources department was skeptical of her claims and a promised investigation never materialized, the suit said.
“It’s hard to imagine a workplace culture that these hardworking people had to endure day after day, having to live through racist comments and abusive behavior,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Mike Arias. “Hearing story after story of employees being subjected to this level of disgusting and threatening behavior and language is still almost unbelievable.”
Another plaintiff, Teri Mitchell, was terminated after about a month of work during which she and other African American employees were called racial epithets including “Blackies” and “Darkies” on a regular basis, according to the filing.
Mitchell was hired as a production associate, but the filing said that she received insufficient training and that many of the people in her section did not speak English and she was unable to communicate with them. When she requested a transfer from her supervisor, she said in court papers that she was retaliated against, being told, “It is rare for Blacks to work here. I don’t know how long you will be able to stay here,” among other racialized remarks.
The lawsuit said she was later transferred but showed up to work one day to find her access badge had been deactivated and was later told she was no longer needed.
Racial slurs were also scrawled on Tesla restroom walls along with swastikas and “KKK,” which attorneys said were left up for months at a time without the company taking them down or addressing the issue.
Plaintiffs including Tyron Aghedo were allegedly given more strenuous positions than non-minority workers. Assigned to work on the cars’ front end, a task which normally rotates out every couple of hours because of its physical intensity, Aghedo and other African American employees allegedly worked there 12 hours a day, while non African American employees were allowed to change over to doing other work throughout the day.
When Aghedo complained about the unfair treatment, he allegedly was assigned to even more labor-intensive tasks and was eventually passed over for a promotion in favor of a non African American person.
Tesla has been hit with a spate of similar lawsuits in recent years, including one where a federal jury in San Francisco awarded $137 million in damages to the plaintiff, a Black man and former Tesla contractor named Owen Diaz who said he suffered racialized abuse similar to what was described in Thursday’s lawsuit.
That amount was later reduced to $15 million by Judge William Orrick. Diaz has been granted a new trial, but only to redetermine what the settlement award should be.