A US civil rights agency has sued Tesla, claiming the electric carmaker has tolerated severe harassment of Black employees at its flagship California assembly plant.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) said in the lawsuit, filed in federal court on Thursday, that from 2015 to the present Black workers at the Tesla plant in Fremont have routinely been subjected to racist slurs and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses.
“If the federal government gets involved, it certainly adds credibility to the claims,” said Stephen Diamond, a law professor at Santa Clara University, who noted that he has advised investors on social responsibility at Tesla.
After finding last year that there was “reasonable cause” to believe Tesla had violated the federal law banning workplace race discrimination, the agency tried and failed to enter into a settlement agreement with the company, according to the lawsuit.
The EEOC’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for an unspecified number of Black workers, along with an order requiring Tesla to overhaul its policies prohibiting discrimination and retaliation.
In addition, a Black former elevator operator at the Fremont plant, Owen Diaz, is seeking a third trial in his 2017 lawsuit claiming he was subjected to severe racial harassment after a jury in April awarded him $3.2m.
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