By Nathalie Voit
California’s civil rights agency, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), filed a civil action complaint against EV giant Tesla on Feb. 10 for race discrimination and harassment at the automaker’s Fremont manufacturing facility.
“After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers and a nearly three-year investigation, DFEH found evidence that Tesla operates a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion,” said DFEH Director Kevin Kish in a release.
In addition to race-based segregation, DFEH alleges that Tesla openly tolerates the “near-constant” use of racial slurs in its facilities and the rampant presence of racist imagery in the workplace, including in common areas such as bathrooms, workstations, and lunch tables.
“One Black worker observed “hang N[ ]” penned next to a drawing of a noose in the breakroom restroom. This worker also saw “all monkeys work outside” and “fuck N[ ]” on the breakroom walls. These racial slurs and racial comments, apparent to all who walked by, were left up for months, without Defendants bothering to remove them,” the lawsuit claimed.
“A common narrative was Black and/or African American workers being taunted by racial slurs and then baited into verbal and physical confrontations, where they, in turn, were the ones disciplined for being purportedly ‘aggressive’ or ‘threatening,'” the suit said.
These written reprimands in their personnel files were then used to deny Black workers promotional and professional opportunities in the Fremont factory. According to the suit, some Black workers resigned during investigations because they lacked confidence that Tesla’s human resources department would act fairly.
Tesla issued a statement in response to the complaint, calling the DFEH lawsuit “misguided” on Feb. 9.
“Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints. We also have a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team whose work is shown in this public report,” Tesla said in a blog post.
“Tesla has always disciplined and terminated employees who engage in misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or harass others in different ways…Tesla continues to seek to provide a workplace that is safe, respectful, fair, and inclusive.”
According to Tesla’s 2020 diversity, equity, and inclusion impact report, Black and African American employees comprise 10% of Tesla’s U.S. workforce but only 4% of its workforce leadership.
