SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Complaint after complaint alleging anti-Black racism at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, has not stopped such abuse and discrimination, with Black workers segregated into the hardest, most dangerous, lowest-paid jobs and subjected to a barrage of racist treatment, language and images, according to claims in recent court filings and employee interviews.
Black workers at the plant — Tesla’s biggest California facility, which employs thousands to build its four electric car models — alleged such abuse often began soon after they started, excited at landing a job at the famed automotive pioneer. In declarations filed by more than 200 current and former workers at the factory in connection with an Alameda County lawsuit against Tesla that now seeks class-action status, workers said they quickly learned that working for Tesla meant facing rampant, extreme racism.
The company’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit against Tesla. In interviews, however, Black workers faulted Musk for allegedly setting a tolerant tone and failing to take action against harassing behavior that has been extensively alleged in a series of lawsuits and was found by a jury in one case to warrant a multimillion-dollar verdict against the company he leads.
