United States: The US government’s anti-discrimination agency has filed a lawsuit against the electric car company Tesla for allowing the “pervasive racial harassment” of black workers at its flagship California factory.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal body, stated that Black workers in Elon Musk’s company had routinely faced stereotyping, racial insults, and hostility since at least 2015.
The court action adds federal charges to discrimination claims already filed by the state of California, lawsuits by individual Tesla employees, and a class action suit involving about 240 workers.
“Tesla subjected Black employees at its manufacturing facilities in Fremont, California, to severe or pervasive racial harassment and created and maintained a hostile work environment because of their race,” the lawsuit noted.
“The racial misconduct was frequent, ongoing, inappropriate, and unwelcome and occurred across all shifts, departments, and positions,” the commission stated. According to the suit, factory walls had graffiti that included swastikas, nooses, and threats, with some of it allegedly on vehicles rolling off the production line. The commission further noted that “slurs were used casually and openly in high-traffic areas and at worker hubs.”
According to the legal documents, Tesla supervisors and managers witnessed racial abuses but did not intervene, and Tesla failed to take steps to address the misconduct. The lawsuit observed that Black Tesla workers who complained of racist treatment found themselves switched to undesirable duties or shifts, written up unjustly, or even discharged.
“After I voiced my unhappiness, I started getting written up for every little thing that was acceptable before, like listening to music while working,” court documents quoted a Black Tesla worker as saying. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages along with compensation for wronged Black workers and an order to curb racism at the Tesla factory.
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