Tesla workers faced slurs, racist graffiti and retaliation, federal suit says

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/28/tesla-federal-lawsuit-racial-harassment/
https://archive.ph/qhb4Z

Tesla workers faced slurs, racist graffiti and retaliation, federal suit says
By Anumita Kaur
September 28, 2023 at 8:01 p.m. EDT

Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla allowed racial harassment of its Black employees to run rampant at its Fremont, Calif., plant and retaliated against some workers who complained, the federal agency charged with enforcing civil rights laws alleged in a lawsuit Thursday.

Black employees routinely faced racial slurs, including variations of the n-word, at the Fremont site, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and graffiti depicting nooses, swastikas and more were casually drawn across the facility’s public spaces. Tesla did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of allegations blasting the billionaire’s workplace environments — the Justice Department sued SpaceX, also owned by Musk, last month, alleging the company discriminated against refugees and asylum seekers in its hiring process. Half a dozen women sued Tesla in 2021, arguing that the company fostered a culture of sexual harassment. That same year, a federal court in California ordered Tesla to pay nearly $137 million in damages after an employee said they encountered racist abuse at Tesla’s Fremont site. The Fremont plant faced scrutiny again last year, when the state’s workplace regulator sued Tesla over similar claims of racial discrimination and harassment.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, since at least 2015, Black employees at the Fremont facility “have routinely endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping, and hostility as well as epithets such as variations of the N-word, ‘monkey,’ ‘boy,’ and ‘black b----.’”

“Slurs were used casually and openly in high-traffic areas and at worker hubs. Black employees regularly encountered graffiti, including variations of the N-word, swastikas, threats, and nooses, on desks and other equipment, in bathroom stalls, within elevators, and even on new vehicles rolling off the production line,” the EEOC said in a news release announcing the suit.

...

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Previously:

[Wonder Why]

1. And this is in California! Can you imagine a Mississippi plant?

[Bluethroughu]

4. Scary.

[ZonkerHarris]

20. It could happen anywhere when a modern-day Nazi is in charge

[Bluethroughu]

2. Time to pull his government contracts and subsidies, we the tax payers

Should not be funding a racist, sexist, and intolerant organization. Pull the money now!

[byronius]

3. Absolutely.

[dalton99a]

6. +1. It was taxpayer money that made him a billionaire

[Bluethroughu]

10. Yes indeed.

[2naSalit]

18. +1

[hunter]

7. This grifter should never have been subsidized in the first place.

Musk is not making the world a better place.

[Bluethroughu]

11. Nope, he's just another power hungry psychopath.

[2naSalit]

21. We should do a claw back...

And if he can't cough up the cash, we take physical assets like Xcorp and such that we paid for. Then expel his sorry ass from the US and never allow him to do business here again.

[Faux pas]

5. Kickin' with disgust!

And no surprise, which makes it even sadder.

[Calculating]

8. To be fair, what can they do about bathroom graffiti

One place I worked would routinely have swastikas drawn on the bathroom walls and they never found out who was doing it.

[dalton99a]

9. Musk can do something about HUNDREDS of Black workers being verbally abused every day for YEARS.

And he can order the racist symbols removed from his factory

All he is doing is deny, deny, and deny

[Bluethroughu]

12. He enabling racism because he doesn't disagree with it.

[Ocelot II]

13. Maybe - don't hire people who do that kind of shit?

This obviously isn't a few isolated incidents of bathroom graffiti; it's the whole culture of the place.

[dalton99a]

14. He prefers them. They are his goons and enforcers.

It is management by intimidation.

[Ocelot II]

15. Sure seems that way. Tesla is a physical manifestation of Xitter.

[brush]

17. Only the Black employees? Sounds more like unwritten policy instead of managment for all.

Last edited Sat Sep 30, 2023, 01:14 PM - Edit history (1)

[gulliver]

16. That's terrible if true, but there's no evidence in the article or the linked EEOC release

Phones have cameras and audio recorders, so I would hope to see photos of graffiti, nooses, and swastikas and to hear audio recordings of slurs. Something. It seems certain there was something wrong going on at that factory, but I'd like to know the number of workers affected and the extent of the harm done to them. I'd like to hear testimony about exact situations that occurred and wrongs done.

It appears that the EEOC tried to settle via conciliation without going to litigation according to the linked release. https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-tesla-racial-harassment-and-retaliation. So, I'm thinking that whatever happened was misconduct within the bounds of redress via conciliation. I trust the EEOC and court to arrive at a just, proportionate solution for all concerned.

[2naSalit]

19. +1

[Demsrule86]

22. There is lots of evidence. I have been following this for a while. Musk is a racist,ant-semitic, and

anti-LGBTQ piece of garbage. He abandoned his Trans child by the way. No one who loves freedom should have anything to do with TESLA. And we need to stop funding him immediately as a country.

[dalton99a]

23. +1. The State of California investigated before deciding to sue. And now the Feds.

[appalachiablue]

27. K/R And he likes his employees in China worked to the hilt in his 966 system

I think it is. Employees work 9 hrs a day, 6 days a week and sleep on mats on the floor of the factory for 6 hrs, if I remember correctly. What a business leader..

[sl8]

28. The conciliation attempt doesn't indicate the severity of the violations, it's required by law.

The EEOC is required by law to attempt conciliation before bringing civil action, in all cases:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2000e-5


Also, your link is broken. Here's another link to the EEOC press release:

https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-tesla-racial-harassment-and-retaliation

[gulliver]

29. Thanks, I believe I stand corrected on that point.

I'll buy that we can't know the severity of the violations from the attempt at conciliation now.

It still leaves us not knowing the severity of the violations, also an important point.

[Demsrule86]

24. I can't believe people defend this disgusting piece of garbage Musk...My hubs worked for

GM, such behavior would not be tolerated. Musk is just plain evil and any who buy his shitty cars are abetting the right wing. He is a card-carrying racist and all the other 'ists' piece of MAGA garbage.

[dalton99a]

25. Decent people don't give money to Elon Musk.

[nolabear]

26. My son has a Tesla.

He’s a kind, decent, liberal young man who believes in electric vehicles, drives long distances in his job and isn’t particularly involved in politics in his everyday life. He isn’t interested in Musk, he just likes the high tech features and, like many young men, thinks it’s cool. If that fits your definition of indecent, so be it. I imagine many good people do.