A US civil rights agency sued Elon Musk’s Tesla on Thursday, alleging the electric carmaker has tolerated severe harassment of black workers at its main assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a lawsuit filed in California federal court that from 2015 to the present, black workers at Tesla factories have routinely been subjected to racial slurs and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses.
Tesla has failed to investigate complaints of racial conduct and has fired or retaliated against employees who reported harassment, the EEOC said in the lawsuit.
Tesla already faces several racial discrimination lawsuits making similar claims, including a class action by workers at the Fremont factory and a lawsuit by a California civil rights agency. The company in the case said it does not tolerate discrimination and takes employee complaints seriously.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s share price rose 2.4% on Thursday to $246.38.
The EEOC in the lawsuit said it began investigating Tesla after the chairwoman of the five-member commission, Charlotte Burrows, filed an internal complaint known as a charge against the company.
Black workers at Elon Musk’s Fremont factory were routinely subjected to racial slurs and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses, the EEOC alleges. Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA
After finding last year that there was “reasonable cause” to believe Tesla had violated federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination in the workplace, the agency tried and failed to reach a settlement agreement with the company, according to the lawsuit.
Burrows said in a statement that combating widespread workplace harassment is a top priority for the EEOC.
“Every worker deserves to have their civil rights respected, and no worker should have to endure the kind of shameful racial bigotry that our investigation has revealed,” he said.
Tesla faces a class-action lawsuit by workers at the Fremont factory and a lawsuit by a California civil rights agency. Reuters
The EEOC lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for an unspecified number of black employees, along with an order requiring Tesla to overhaul its policies prohibiting discrimination and retaliation.
The complaint comes as Tesla seeks to fend off similar claims from the California Department of Civil Rights, the state’s EEOC counterpart. The department also alleged that Tesla discriminated against black workers when making decisions about pay, promotions and job assignments.
The department’s lawsuit alleges violations of California law, while the EEOC’s case involves a similar federal law.
Tesla has claimed that the California department’s lawsuit is politically motivated and argued that the agency violated state law by suing without first notifying the company of all the claims or giving it a chance to settle them.
A California judge last year denied Tesla’s motion to dismiss the case, and is now considering various issues related to pre-trial discovery.
Meanwhile, a black former elevator operator at the Fremont plant, Owen Diaz, is seeking a third trial in his 2017 lawsuit alleging he suffered severe racial harassment after a jury in April awarded him $3.2 million.
A different jury in 2021 had awarded Diaz $137 million, but a federal judge said that was excessive and Diaz opted for a new trial instead of a reduced award of $15 million.
Tesla is also facing a class action lawsuit in California state court over alleged mistreatment of black factory workers. About 240 workers have moved to join the lawsuit.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
