California Department of Fair Employment and Housing Sues Tesla for Discrimination
FREMONT (KPIX) -- A lawsuit filed this week by the State of California alleged years of "rampant racism unchecked" at Tesla's Fremont plant.
The 39-page lawsuit was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after a three-year-long investigation and "hundreds of complaints."
"DFEH found evidence that Tesla's Fremont factory is a racially-segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay and promotion creating a hostile work environment. The facts of this case speak for themselves. DFEH will continue to take steps to keep workplaces free of harassment and racism," said agency director Kevin Kish.
According to the complaint, Black employees were subjected to racial harassment "throughout the day, every day", as often as "50-100 times a day," and heard comments such as: N-word; boy; porch monkey; hood rats; monkey toes; horse hair; N-word out of the hood; from the ghetto; Tesla [was] hiring lazy coons; go back to Africa.
According to the suit, the factory was racially segregated and employees were seen openly displaying Confederate flag tattoos. The area with Black employees was referred to as the "slaveship" or the "plantation." Black employees were told "monkeys work outside," according to the lawsuit.
The court documents said "swastikas, 'KKK' the n-word and other racist writing are etched onto walls of restrooms, restroom stalls, lunch tables and even factory machinery" and remained there for long periods of time.
"For many Black and/or African American workers, the stress from the severe and pervasive racial harassment, the risk of a physical altercation and escalation with harassers, the blatant discrimination, the disproportionately severe discipline and the futility of complaining, made the working conditions so intolerable that they resigned," the DFEH said in a statement.
Tesla broke the news Wednesday morning, hours before the lawsuit was filed, in a company blog post titled "The DFEH's Misguided Lawsuit."
The company pointed to a 2020 impact report on diversity equity and inclusion, which said "We are continuing to build a culture that is safe, respectful, fair and inclusive for all of our employees. Deploying our unconscious bias trainings throughout the recruiting organization and with all people managers."
According to the company, Black and African Americans make up 10 percent of its U.S. workforce, and 4 percent of management -- a 60 percent increase.
However, the blog post also touted Tesla's economic footprint in the state: "Tesla is also the last remaining automobile manufacturer in California. The Fremont factory has a majority-minority workforce and provides the best-paying jobs in the automotive industry to over 30,000 Californians. No company has done more for sustainability or the creation of clean energy jobs than Tesla. Yet, at a time when manufacturing jobs are leaving California, the DFEH has decided to sue Tesla instead of constructively working with us. This is both unfair and counterproductive, especially because the allegations focus on events from years ago ... Attacking a company like Tesla that has done so much good for California should not be the overriding aim of a state agency with prosecutorial authority. The interests of workers and fundamental fairness must come first."
Dr. Shaun Fletcher, a professor at San Jose State and an expert on diversity, took issue with Tesla's response.
"It screamed disingenuous. It screamed entitlement. It screamed that they were not willing to take accountability for everything that has been proven," Fletcher said. "The tone that came off within this statement is 'You don't know who we are. We're Tesla. We are somebody that should not be dragged through the mud like this. How dare you do this after all we've done for the economy?'"
Vivek Wadhwa, longtime tech entrepreneur and academic, was an early supporter of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
"So I used to be a big fan of Elon's. I considered him a friend long ago and I've noticed that, over the past few years, he's completely become out of touch. I mean, the things he says, that he does, I can't believe it's the same person who I knew when he was a fledgling entrepreneur," Wadhwa said. "Elon seems to really have moved to the dark side. He's out of touch with what's really going on."
The state's lawsuit is the latest in a string of lawsuits alleging racism and sexual harassment.
In October, a jury awarded nearly $137 million to a Tesla contractor who endured "daily racist epithets." In November, a production assistant at the Fremont plant filed a lawsuit alleging daily sexual harassment.
Last week a former brake inspector accused the company of "festering" and "unchecked" racism at its Lathrop plant. The state's lawsuit did not specify a monetary amount but is seeking compensatory, punitive and economic damages "including but not limited to reinstatement, backpay, lost wages and benefits."
"Elon, my friend, go back to your roots. I mean, you're a wonderful human being. You were a wonderful human being. Let's fix these problems and let's make the world a better place," Wadhwa said.
