Tesla Sued Over Racial Discrimination Allegations In California Factory: Report

The lawsuit claimed Tesla's factory in Fremont is racially segregated and that black workers claim they are subjected to racist slurs and drawings and assigned the most physically demanding jobs.

A Tesla Model S car is displayed at a Tesla showroom on November 5, 2013 in Palo Alto, California. (Getty)

New Delhi: Electric automaker Tesla has once again landed in troubled waters over allegations of racial discrimination after a California state agency sued the company.

In the latest accusation, some black workers charged the company with tolerating racial discrimination at an assembly plant. The lawsuit filed has been filed in the state court on Wednesday by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

The lawsuit said Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, is racially segregated and that black workers claim they are subjected to racist slurs and drawings and assigned the most physically demanding jobs, according to the Reuters report.

In a blog post, the automaker on Wednesday said it was expecting the lawsuit, which it termed misguided.

Accusations Against Tesla?

The department pointed out the working conditions at the plant as intolerable that many black employees have been forced to quit.

"Workers referred to the Tesla factory as the 'slaveship' or 'the plantation,' where defendants’ production leads 'crack[ed] the whip," the complaint said, as per the Reuters report.

Tesla's Response

Tesla said in the blog post that over the past five years, DFEH had concluded that nearly 50 individual discrimination complaints against the company lacked merit, contradicting the agency's claims of widespread discrimination.

The company said it does not tolerate harassment and has disciplined and fired workers who engaged in misconduct.

"A narrative spun by the DFEH and a handful of plaintiff firms to generate publicity is not factual proof," said the company.

Even as the company has grown to become the world's most valuable automaker, Tesla has faced several claims involving pervasive racial and sexual harassment at its flagship Fremont plant and other facilities.

In October, a federal court awarded $137 million to Owen Diaz, a former employee at the Fremont plant who said managers ignored didn't pay heed to his complaints about constant racial harassment including slurs and swastikas scrawled on bathroom walls.

Also, a judge, in that case, is looking at Tesla's request for a new trial or to lower the award, which is one of the largest in a discrimination lawsuit by a single worker.

The company is also defending against similar claims in a proposed class action on behalf of factory workers in California state court. A judge last year rejected Tesla's bid to dismiss the claims.