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Thousands of Tesla workers can move forward with a class-action racial discrimination lawsuit against electric vehicle maker Tesla, a California judge finds.
Tesla can still appeal the judge's Wednesday ruling today, however. A hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow to hear arguments from both sides, Time reports.
The judge reportedly stated that the class-action lawsuit is approved because Tesla has an alleged "pattern or practice" of inadequately preventing racial discrimination. Judge Noël Wise found that racial discrimination was therefore a matter of concern for all Black workers at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory.
The current class-action builds on a suit from 2017 from Tesla worker Marcus Vaughn, who alleges that "Black co-workers were subjected to repeated instances of racial harassment and discrimination, including regularly being called racial slurs by co-workers and supervisors," according to case files viewed by PCMag. There were also instances of nooses being hung at workstations, Reuters reports.
Court filings show that Tesla has repeatedly tried to arbitrate the issue, arguing for it in 2021 and again in January last year. But many law firms note that arbitration has some disadvantages, offering a limited chance for a "discovery" process, decisions that often must be kept confidential, and arbitrators who could be biased toward one party.
Back in 2017, Tesla said it does not tolerate "any form of discrimination and harassment." Tesla fired three employees as a result of the racist incidents that occurred, but argued that a "hotbed of misinformation" swirls around the lawsuit. It also shared an internal email from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to Tesla employees, which, among other things, stated: "If someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology. If you are a part of a less represented group, you don't get a free pass on being a jerk yourself.
"We have had a few cases at Tesla where someone in a less represented group was actually given a job or promoted over more qualified highly represented candidates and then decided to sue Tesla for millions of dollars because they felt they weren't promoted enough. That is obviously not cool," Musk's 2017 email also said.
Tesla has repeatedly noted that Vaughn was a temp worker, not a full-time employee, and pointed out that the Fremont, California, factory employed over 10,000 staff as of 2017 (it's currently at 20,000, the LA Times reports). Now, 6,000 of them will be able to sue Tesla for workplace racial discrimination. Reuters reports that any Black employee who worked at Tesla as far back as November 2016 are eligible to join the class-action lawsuit.
Tesla has faced other lawsuits over the years regarding its "full self-driving" claims and handling of a mass layoff, to name a few. In January, Tesla's California factories were accused of improperly disposing of hazardous waste like lead acid batteries, propane, and diesel fuel, which violates California law. The 25 California counties quickly settled the suit, however, with Tesla paying $1.5 million for its misconduct.