Fifteen black former or current employees of Tesla filed a lawsuit Thursday against the electric car maker, alleging racial abuse and harassment were perpetrated at its factories.
According to the lawsuit filed in a California state court, workers said they were regularly subjected to offensive racist comments and behavior by coworkers, managers and human resources employees.
The harassment, which mostly took place at Tesla’s Fremont, Calif., factory, included using the N-word and words like “slavery” or “plantation” or making sexual comments like “loot loot,” the automaker said in the lawsuit. of “Standard Operating Procedures include coercive, open and persistent racial discrimination.”
A plaintiff in the filing, Teri Mitchell, was described as being regularly harassed by coworkers and managers who used racial slurs and made the statement, “It’s rare for black people to work here. I don’t know why.” How long will you be able to stay here.”
Another plaintiff, Nathaniel Azil Gonsalves, described harassment by an observer. The complaint describes the supervisor as saying that “Gonsalves ‘was not like most black people,’ that he ‘didn’t do ghetto work,’ and further called him a ‘zebra’ because he was ‘neither black and Nor white.'”
According to the lawsuit, some of the plaintiffs were hired or passed over for promotions to the most physically demanding positions at Tesla.
It said Monticello Justice, a production associate at Tesla’s Fremont factory, was immediately demoted upon returning to Tesla after taking an authorized leave of absence as a result of contracting Covid-19.
Tesla did not respond Reuters Request for comment on Thursday or Friday.
The automaker is facing at least 10 lawsuits alleging widespread race discrimination or sexual harassmentIncluding one by the California State Civil Rights Agency.
In February Tesla responded to a lawsuit expected by the California state agency, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, saying it opposes discrimination and investigates all complaints.
“Tesla has always disciplined and fired employees who engage in misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or harass others in different ways. We recently did an additional training program that reinforces Tesla’s requirement that all employees should treat each other with respect and remind employees of the many ways they can report concerns, including anonymously including from,” it said in a company Blog.
On Monday, a federal judge in California ordered a new trial over Tesla’s damages for a black former factory worker who accused the company of race discrimination, after turning down a $15 million award.
This month, a Tesla shareholder filed court case Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and the company’s board of directors were accused of ignoring workers’ complaints and promoting a toxic workplace culture.