FREMONT, Calif. — Tesla is likely to face a class-action lawsuit after 240 black employees in California described rampant racism and discrimination at the San Francisco Bay Area electric carmaker’s plant, adding the common use of racial slurs and references to production as a plantation. or slave ship.
The testimony presented Monday in Alameda County Superior Court came from contractors and staff working in the production field at the Fremont plant, about 40 miles southeast of San Francisco. The vast majority have worked between 2016 and today. Lawyers sue Tesla, Inc. He estimates that at least 6,000 staff members may be in the class.
The individual testimonies are part of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by Marcus Vaughn, who complained in writing to human resources and Tesla CEO Elon Musk about a hostile environment in which he insulted colleagues and supervisors. No investigation was conducted and he was fired for “not having a positive attitude,” according to his lawyers.
The lawsuit is one of many alleging racism, harassment and discrimination at the Fremont plant.
Last year, California regulators sued Tesla in state court, alleging the company “turned a blind eye” to abuse and that Musk had told staff to be “insensitive” to racial harassment. In April, a federal jury awarded a former Tesla worker $3. 2. millions for racial abuse.
Bryan Schwartz, one of Vaughn’s lawyers, said the case dragged on for years as Tesla seeks to force the arbitration claim. Instead, the California Supreme Court in April allowed Black to seek a public injunction that would force Tesla to replace its paint environment. .
“To have this blatant scale of harassment here in Silicon Valley, it’s disgusting,” Schwartz said, adding that it’s shocking that “Tesla allowed this kind of widespread harassment to last so long. “
Tesla’s lawyers responded to emailed requests for comment.
All registrants reported hearing the use of a specific racial slur, and more than a portion said they heard supervisors and managers use the word, according to a summary of the s.
Dozens also said their superiors directed racial slurs at them, according to the summary, and nearly a half said they had met or noticed other black staff tasked with tougher, more physically disciplined paintings more frequently.
Production associate Albert Blakes said in his interview that it was difficult to get to work, knowing he would face racist slurs, references to slavery and offensive graffiti for 12 hours straight. I listened again and nothing changed.
“Something needs to be done to hold Tesla accountable for the racism that is occurring at the Fremont factory to set an example that this racism is tolerated in California jobs,” he said.
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