Friday, September 29, 2023

'Kill Black people': Elon Musk's Tesla sued for racial abuse at electric vehicle plant

Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY
Thu, September 28, 2023 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker Tesla for a pervasive pattern of racial abuse at one of its manufacturing plants and for retaliating against Black employees who complained about the stereotyping, hostility and slurs.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oakland Thursday, Black employees at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility were routinely subjected to graffiti, swastikas, threats such as “‘kill black people,” and nooses on desks and other equipment, in bathroom stalls, in elevators and on new vehicles on the production line since 2015, the EEOC alleged.

Black employees described racist imagery as “frequent,” “constant,” “a regular thing,” and occurring “too many times to count,” the lawsuit alleged.

Employees who objected to the racial hostility were terminated, transferred or had their job duties changed, according to the lawsuit.

“Despite having actual or constructive knowledge of racial harassment and misconduct, Tesla failed and refused to take steps to address the behavior. Tesla failed to investigate complaints of racial misconduct. Tesla failed to adopt policies or practices to ensure that its temporary workforce did not perpetrate racial harassment at the Fremont Factory,” the EEOC lawsuit charged.

A charging station for Tesla electric cars is pictured at a car park in Berlin, Germany on August 3, 2023. Tesla had reported a jump in second-quarter profits on July 19 as a series of price cuts translated into sharply higher car sales. Elon Musk's electric vehicle company reported profits of USD 2.7 billion, up 20 percent on the year-ago level.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EEOC, which is charged with protecting the civil rights of Americans in the workplace, said it investigated Tesla after Chair Charlotte Burrows filed a commissioner’s charge alleging that Tesla violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting Black employees to an unlawful hostile work environment and retaliating against employees for opposing harassment.

Tesla revealed in April 2022 that it was being investigated by the EEOC.

A separate lawsuit brought by California’s civil rights agency also accuses the company of ignoring pervasive racism against Black workers in Fremont and in other facilities.

In April, a federal jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla to pay about $3.2 million to a Black former employee after he won a racial harassment lawsuit. The award was far less than the $15 million he rejected when he asked for a new trial last year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tesla sued for harassment of Black workers at California plant

Tesla sued for 'widespread and ongoing' racial harassment at California plant


Ronald D. White
Thu, September 28, 2023 

Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif. The automaker faces several racial discrimination lawsuits. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Tesla Inc. for "widespread and ongoing" racial harassment of its Black employees and for retaliating against workers who spoke out about the problem, the federal agency announced Thursday.

Since at least 2015, "Black employees at Tesla’s Fremont, California, manufacturing facilities have routinely endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping, and hostility as well as epithets," the commission said in a statement.

The EEOC added: "Black employees regularly encountered graffiti, including variations of the N-word, swastikas, threats, and nooses, on desks and other equipment, in bathroom stalls, within elevators, and even on new vehicles rolling off the production line."

The lawsuit was brought by the EEOC’s San Francisco District Office, which has jurisdiction over Northern California, northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

EEOC officials said the lawsuit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages "and back pay for the affected workers, as well as injunctive relief designed to reform Tesla’s employment practices to prevent such discrimination in the future."

EEOC Chairperson Charlotte A. Burrows said the lawsuit "makes clear that no company is above the law."

"The EEOC will vigorously enforce federal civil rights protections to help ensure American workplaces are free from unlawful harassment and retaliation," she said.

Attempts to reach officials at Tesla for comment were unsuccessful.

Read more: Black Tesla employees describe a culture of racism: 'I was at my breaking point'

Tesla, the world's most valuable car company, faces similar action on several other fronts.

In February, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit on behalf of more than 4,000 current and former Black Tesla workers — the largest racial discrimination suit ever brought by the state based on number of workers affected.

In that suit, three former employees alleged that racist slurs in English and Spanish were often aimed at Black employees by co-workers and supervisors. They said Tesla segregated Black workers into separate areas, gave them the hardest tasks and routinely denied them promotions. And they alleged that when they informed the company about racist treatment, their complaints went ignored or they were fired.

Tesla disputed the former employees' accounts, stating that the three workers did not complain to the company about racism and that any discipline they received was the result of their own workplace behavior.

"Race plays no role in any of Tesla's work assignments, promotions, pay or discipline," attorneys for the company said in a statement at the time. "Tesla prohibits discrimination, in any form."

Thursday's lawsuit puts a different kind of pressure on Tesla, said attorney Clifton W. Albright, founding partner and president of Albright, Yee & Schmit, a labor and employment law firm in downtown Los Angeles.

"The EEOC's preference is to resolve issues quietly.... They don't have a dog in this fight," he said, unlike lawsuits filed by private firms or civil rights organizations.

"For the EEOC to come out so strongly, they must think there is significant evidence that the employer refuses or fails to recognize or address."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Federal agency sues Tesla for racial discrimination of Black workers

Rebecca Bellan
Thu, September 28, 2023

Image Credits: David Butow/Corbis / Getty Images

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Tesla on Thursday, accusing the automaker of violating federal law by tolerating widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees and subjecting some workers to retaliation for opposing harassment.

The lawsuit from the federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination is one of several against Tesla for racial bias. The California Civil Rights Department sued Tesla in 2022 over similar allegations. And in April a jury ordered Tesla to pay a Black former worker, Owen Diaz, $3.2 million in damages after Tesla was found to have allowed severe racial harassment at its Fremont assembly plant.

In April 2022, Tesla revealed in a financial filing that the EEOC had an "open investigation" into the company. Tesla had engaged in a mandatory conciliation process with the agency. That process was not successful, which led to the lawsuit filed Thursday.

The EEOC alleges that since at least 2015 until present day, Black employees at that same factory have endured "severe or pervasive racial harassment" and "a hostile work environment."

Specifically, the filing details the stereotyping and hostility, such as being called "lazy," "smelly" and "always late." They also claim to have endured slurs and epithets such as variations of the N-word, "monkey," "boy," and "black bitch." The lawsuit alleges that these slurs were used casually and in high-traffic areas and worker hubs.

"I saw KKK epithets, a swastika, and the N-Word all over the bathroom," one Black worker was quoted as saying in the lawsuit. "It was so gross and racist I don't want to discuss it. It would say 'kill black people,' 'kill N-Words,' 'hang black people,' 'hang N-Words.'"

The Black workers who spoke to EEOC said such graffiti, which also included images of nooses, could be found on a variety of surfaces, including on desks, in elevators, and on equipment, including vehicles rolling off production lines.

"Supervisors and managers witnessed racially offensive conduct but failed or refused to intercede," reads the lawsuit. "Black employees reported the slurs, insults, graffiti and misconduct to Tesla's human resources, employee relations, and managerial personnel . . . Tesla failed and refused to take steps to address the behavior."

Furthermore, Tesla allegedly fired Black employees within weeks of them reporting or opposing racial harassment.

"After I voiced my unhappiness [about the harassment], I started getting written up for every little thing that was acceptable before like listening to music while working," recounts one Black worker.

The lawsuit accuses Tesla of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, amended in 1991, which calls on employers to correct unlawful practices based on race and to provide appropriate relief to aggrieved individuals.

“When you let a standard slip, you’ve set a new standard. Determining that prolific racial slurs do not merit serious discipline and failing to correct harassing conduct sends an entirely wrong message to employees," said Nancy Sienko, the EEOC's San Francisco district office director, in a statement. "It also violates an employer’s legal responsibility to act swiftly and effectively to stop race-based harassment.”

Tesla disbanded its press department in 2020 and could not be reached for comment.

The EEOC requests a jury trial and asks that the court order Tesla to pay damages to the aggrieved individuals, as well as fines for breaking the law. The agency also requests the court to grant a permanent injunction to Tesla management that engaged in and allowed racism to flourish and to order Tesla to institute and carry out policies to remedy the situation and protect Black workers in the future.

The lawsuit -- EEOC v Tesla, Inc., Case No 4:23-cv-04984 -- was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

No comments:

Post a Comment