A racial discrimination lawsuit was filed against Tesla on Feb. 9 by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his team have found many ways to avoid accountability.
The lawsuit says the company has a history of discrimination complaints claiming racially charged insults and unfair physical demand. Many of these complaints are from Tesla’s main Fremont factory.
“After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers, DFEH (Department of Fair Employment and Housing) 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,” DFEH director Kevin Kish said in a statement.
The lawsuit details instances where Black employees were subject to racial slurs.
“One Black worker heard these racial slurs as often as 50-100 times a day,” the lawsuit reads.
Black workers at Tesla claimed that managers and supervisors consistently used targeted racial slurs as well.
This is not the first time employees have filed discrimination lawsuits against Tesla.
A California federal court ordered Tesla to pay $137 million to Owen Diaz last year. Diaz worked at the Fremont plant between 2015 and 2016. He alleged he faced “daily racial epithets” including the “N-word.” He said employees left racist graffiti and drew swastikas around the plant.
This current lawsuit is the first time a government agency has taken action. The Tesla brand consistently denies such allegations.
The company posted a response to the lawsuit on its website to take preventative measures. It details Tesla’s actions against racial misconduct in the past. They also share their intent to ask the court to pause the case.
“To date, despite repeated requests, the DFEH has declined to provide Tesla with the specific allegations or the factual bases for its lawsuit,” the post said. “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 company says in the same post the DEFH has been asked on almost 50 occasions to investigate Tesla for discrimination or harassment and has found no misconduct.
“It, therefore, strains credibility for the agency to now allege, after a three-year investigation, that systematic racial discrimination and harassment somehow existed at Tesla,” the Tesla team said in the statement.
The company did not acknowledge the hundreds of complaints from Fremont.
Musk took to Twitter around this time with unrelated words of irony.
“The duty of a leader is to serve their people, not for the people to serve them,” said Musk.
He is an active Twitter user with 78.9 million followers. He uses his platform to advertise SpaceX, his company that designs, manufactures and launches rockets and spacecraft. He also posts random thoughts and memes.
Musk has not used his platform to acknowledge any accusations. This is especially disturbing when such severe claims are coming from Black factory employees.
I hope Musk is pushed to speak on the topic. Until then his audience can enjoy the memes and “funny” quips while ignoring the trail of destruction behind such a powerful man.
