Tesla is heading to trial in Oakland this week in a lawsuit brought by the California Civil Rights Department in 2022, which alleges that Black workers at the company's Fremont factory faced widespread racial harassment and discrimination and that Tesla failed to prevent or adequately address it. Tesla has denied wrongdoing and said it does not tolerate discrimination, noting it investigated complaints and terminated employees found to have engaged in misconduct. The trial, scheduled to run through October 30 and decided by Judge Borkon rather than a jury, is one of the most significant employment-discrimination cases against a major U.S. company to reach trial in recent years, according to Reuters, and California law does not cap the damages that can be awarded to affected workers. The agency's allegations include racial slurs and graffiti and discrimination involving pay, promotions, and job assignments, and it claims the Fremont factory was racially segregated with Black employees assigned to lower-paying and less desirable jobs. Tesla previously secured a legal victory in a separate case when Judge Peter Borkon ruled that more than 6,000 Black workers could not pursue their claims as a class, though that ruling does not determine the outcome of the Civil Rights Department's lawsuit. A former contract worker at the Fremont plant, Owen Diaz, initially received a $137 million jury award in a separate racial-harassment case, which was sharply reduced by the judge at a later stage.
Tesla IncTesla faces a trial over racial harassment and discrimination claims with no cap on damages, exposing it to significant legal liability.
