The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Tesla, one of billionaire Elon Musk’s companies, Thursday alleging the company has allowed “widespread and ongoing racial harassment of its Black employees” and retaliated against workers who opposed it for nearly a decade, violating the Civil Rights Act.
Tesla is facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over its treatment ... [+]
The EEOC alleges in its suit that—from 2015 to present—Black employees at Tesla manufacturing facilities in Fremont, California, have “endured racial abuse, pervasive stereotyping and hostility,” saying slurs were casually used and Black employees regularly encountered graffiti with “swastikas, threats and nooses” at work.
The suit also claims that people who objected to the environment were terminated, transferred or had a change in their duties.
According to the suit, Tesla had “actual or constructive knowledge” of the racial harassment and “failed and refused to take steps to address” it, investigate complaints or enact policies to prevent it from happening.
The EEOC is seeking back pay for affected workers, compensatory and punitive damages and the court to order a change in Tesla’s employment practices to avoid a similar situation happening in the future.
Forbes has reached out to Tesla for comment.
“The racial misconduct was frequent, ongoing, inappropriate, unwelcome and occurred across all shifts, departments, and positions,” the lawsuit states.
Tesla has not yet addressed the EEOC’s suit, but is facing a similar lawsuit by a California civil rights agency and has called that case “misguided.” “Attacking a company like Tesla that has done so much good for California should not be the overriding aim of a state agency with prosecutorial authority,” the February 2022 statement read.
This isn’t Tesla’s first lawsuit stemming from accusations of discrimination. Last year, a Black gay woman who had been a contract worker at a California factory sued Tesla, alleging the company didn’t address racial slurs, homophobic slurs or physical attacks against her. Tesla has also faced a suit from two female employees who filed lawsuits alleging the Fremon factory was a “hostile work environment” for female workers. Reuters reported Tesla is also facing a class action suit by workers at the Fremont location, but the company has denied that it did anything wrong.
We estimate Musk to be worth $248.6 million as of Thursday afternoon, making him the richest person in the world.