Ex-Tesla employee wins $1M award
Black former worker said supervisors called him the ‘N-word’ at EV maker’s Fremont plant
Tesla has paid more than $1 million to a Black former employee who won a ruling that the company failed to stop his supervisors from calling him the “Nword” at the electric-car maker’s Fremont plant.
The rare discrimination award by an arbitrator to Melvin Berry, which followed a closed-door proceeding, caps years of complaints from Black workers that Tesla turned a blind eye to the commonplace use of racial slurs on the assembly line and was slow to clean up graffiti with swastikas and other hate symbols scrawled in common areas. It ends a yearslong and emotionally grueling fight launched by Berry, who was hired by the company as a materials handler in 2015 and quit less than 18 months later.
Arbitration typically keeps disputes between employees and companies secret, but court filings reveal that the arbitrator found Berry’s allegations more credible than Tesla’s denials, though she called it a “difficult” case after hearing from witnesses on both sides. Berry claimed that when he confronted a supervisor for calling him the “N-word” he was forced to work longer hours and push a heavier cart.
“I hope the world knows that an arbitrator found Tesla treats its employees like this,” Berry, 47, told Bloomberg News in a phone interview Wednesday. He said he’s now taking time off to focus on his mental health as he still hasn’t “gotten over the healing process.”
“Case law is clear that one instance of a supervisor directing the N-word at a subordinate is sufficient to constitute severe harassment,” arbitrator Elaine Rushing said in her May 12 ruling, which hasn’t been previously reported. Rushing, a former judge in Sonoma County Superior Court for almost two decades, said she found Tesla liable for harassment because it was perpetrated by Berry’s supervisors.
Tesla has vehemently denied the allegations in Berry’s case and others like it, saying in a 2017 statement that the company “is absolutely against any form of discrimination, harassment, or unfair treatment of any kind.” Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment. Danielle Ochs, a lawyer who represented the company in Berry’s arbitration, also didn’t respond.
The widespread use of mandatory arbitration by employers has come under fire since the #MeToo movement exposed it as a tool that effectively keeps sexual harassment complaints quiet. In recent years, employee and shareholder activists pushed several large companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Uber Technologies and Lyft to end its use for sexual harassment cases.
While Berry’s arbitration was confidential, which is typical, his victory came to light in a standard petition his lawyer filed in court to enforce the arbitrator’s order. His lawyer, Lawrence Organ, said in a phone interview that his client won’t be taking any further legal action as Tesla has since paid the award.
Three-quarters of the $1.02 million award is for Berry’s attorneys’ fees and legal costs. Rushing also directed Tesla to pay the ex-employee $266,278.50 in damages, including $100,000 to compensate for emotional distress.
In its defense, Tesla said there’s no written evidence, even in Berry’s medical records, that he had complained to co-workers or human resources about his supervisors addressing him with the “Nword.” Berry left the job voluntarily and only deserves $148 for his economic losses, Tesla argued, according to the arbitrator’s ruling.
The arbitrator said there were “serious questions” about the credibility of a supervisor who wrote Berry a warning letter for slacking off on the job.
“This is a case of a 23-yearold White man with only a highschool education supervising a 43-year-old African American man with a college degree, a classic invitation for serious resentment,” she wrote.
Tesla has more than 80,000 employees globally, and roughly 10,000 work at its auto plant in Fremont in the Bay Area.