Tesla sued over racial harassment practices at plant

California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has alleged that racial discrimination and harassment practices persist at the California plant and other major facilities of Tesla. A case has been filed by DFEH at Alameda County Superior Court, against the Company’s malpractices.

The case report says that the plant at Fremont, California, is racially segregated and that the Black workers there claim they witness racial slurs; that they were assigned the most physically demanding jobs at the plant.

According to DFEH, there was a three-year long investigation into the matter and the Department has received complaints from hundreds of employees working at the plant.

The statements of DFEH further reveal that the Tesla workplace has been very biased against Black employees, many of whom have been forced to quit the Company.

While Tesla has not yet responded to queries regarding the lawsuit, it has published a blog on its official website wherein it claims that all the allegations against the Company are misguided.

“This follows a three-year investigation during which the DFEH — whose mission is supposedly to protect workers — has never once raised any concern about current workplace practices at Tesla. Rather, the lawsuit appears focused on alleged misconduct by production associates at the Fremont factory that took place between 2015 and 2019,” states the blog.

The blog goes on to claim that the auto maker “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated employee relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints”. It also reveals that the Company has a diversity, equity, and inclusion team in place, whose work is described in the public report.