Agency’s Tesla Racism Lawsuit������������������

In February, after a three-year investigation, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a lawsuit against Tesla, alleging its Fremont auto factory is rife with racism targeting black workers.

Now, new reporting shares the stories of former employees who claim to have experienced harassment, underlining the apparent seriousness of the situation.

The personal stories related to the Los Angeles Times by three former employees echo the accusations in the DFEH lawsuit, including the frequent use of the N word, other race-based harassment and seeming retaliation against those making complaints. The electric automaker has denied the specific allegations made by the individuals to the Los Angeles Times.

Tesla also defended itself in February against the allegations made in the state agency’s lawsuit. In a blog post titled “The DFEH’s Misguided Lawsuit,” Tesla said it “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment” and it not only has an Employee Relations team that responds to all types of complaints, but it also has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team.

A report published by that DEI team said 10% of the Tesla U.S. workforce is black and minorities make up the majority. However, it also said black people hold only 4% of leadership positions, while white people make up a strong majority (59%) of that group.

The blog post raises the point that DFEH had been contacted almost 50 times over a span of five years with complaints of discrimination or harassment, but seemingly dismisses the grievances because the civil rights agency closed the cases without any legal action against the company.

Tesla also claimed DFEH has not provided it with “the specific allegations or the factual bases for its lawsuit.”

In a separate article, Insider described how a litany of lawsuits alleging harassment based on race and gender have been filed over the past five years, and relayed personal accounts from a number of individuals involved in those actions. Tesla, it said, has relied on private arbitration—a practice used by other automakers as well—to help keep settlement details from becoming public.

Although most of the discrimination lawsuits against Tesla have failed, there has been one notable award. A former Tesla contractor was granted $137 million from the company by a federal jury in October 2021. Tesla is appealing that settlement amount.

Out of 90 arbitration complaints filed against the company since 2016, only one has been successful so far. That case resulted in a $1 million reward for a former worker.

Tesla is not the only automaker with incidents or allegations of racial discrimination. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed an earlier decision, reviving an action against Ford for a former worker’s allegations of racial and sexual harassment.

A Fiat Chrysler subcontractor employee was fired in 2018 after a noose was found at the Toledo Jeep Assembly Complex. The next year, another noose was spotted at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. The woman who reported it was initially fired, ostensibly for posting a video of it on social media, but was later reinstated.

In 2018, a number of employees launched a lawsuit against General Motors after a number of disturbing racially-motivated incidents, including nooses left at work stations.

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