Key facts
- Tesla faces a trial starting Monday over allegations of race discrimination at its Fremont, California plant.
- The California Civil Rights Department alleges pervasive harassment, racial slurs, graffiti, lower pay, and fewer promotion opportunities for Black workers.
- The lawsuit, filed in 2022, also includes claims of racial segregation and assignment of Black workers to the lowest-paying jobs.
- California law does not cap damages, potentially exposing Tesla to millions of dollars if it loses.
- The trial is a bench trial, meaning a judge will decide liability.
- Tesla has previously denied wrongdoing and stated it fires employees found to have engaged in misconduct.
Tesla is set to go to trial on Monday in Oakland, California, facing a lawsuit from the state's Civil Rights Department that accuses the electric vehicle maker of allowing rampant race discrimination and harassment at its flagship Fremont assembly plant. The trial, scheduled to last until October 30, will be presided over by state Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon, who will decide liability in a bench trial.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleges that Black workers at the Fremont plant were subjected to pervasive harassment, including racial slurs and graffiti, by other employees. The department also claims Tesla failed to prevent or stop this misconduct, paid Black workers less than others, and denied them promotion opportunities. The suit further includes allegations that the Fremont plant was racially segregated, with Black workers assigned to the lowest-paying and least desirable jobs.
Tesla has been accused of fostering a hostile environment for Black workers at its facilities for the past decade. The company is also facing a separate lawsuit from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and numerous individual lawsuits from former employees making similar claims. Tesla has previously denied wrongdoing, stating it does not tolerate discrimination and has fired employees found to have engaged in misconduct.
Unlike federal law, California's civil rights law does not cap damages, meaning Tesla could be liable for millions of dollars if it loses the case. In a previous development, Judge Borkon ruled last year that over 6,000 Black workers could not sue Tesla as a class, a decision that handed a significant victory to the company. Tesla has settled some individual lawsuits, including one where a former elevator operator was awarded $137 million by a jury, though this amount was later reduced by a judge.