Bad news for Tesla as over 15 black employees have sued the company because of racism towards them. This controversy has created a bad image for the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, who was also accused of sexual harassment over a month ago.
The lawsuit comes from 15 current as well as former employees of the company. The lawsuit was filed last Thursday in a California court and it reads that around 46 employees of the company who are in different managerial positions have made the work environment toxic and hostile. The lawsuit also talks about how the whole atmosphere of the firm has become an us vs them situation, and how the company chooses to do nothing despite this information.
Tesla has already been in murky waters with their stance on discrimination, as a different lawsuit was filed against them in February which claimed that their factory situated in Fremont is a racially differentiated place. The 15 people who have taken the current lawsuit up, have accused the company of being preferential towards white employees and that black people are not getting the same rights or promotions, even though they work equally hard.
One accuser talked about him getting charged by another employee and when he went to report it to a superior official he was told things like “man up” and “this keeps happening here”.
The lawsuit talked about Tesla overlooking the fact that these black employees were discriminated against with the N-word and there was racially provoking graffiti in the bathrooms. This graffiti included symbols like Swastika, the N-word, and the letters “KKK”. One accuser talked about him getting charged by another employee and when he went to report it to a superior official he was told things like “man up” and “this keeps happening here”.
His plight was brushed off as something which is not a big deal. This same guy also had metal bolts thrown at him, another incident which when reported, went under the rug. Sadly, this is not the first time black people working in Tesla are witnessing such dark times, back in February, A black, gay woman, was harassed by a co-worker who later even threw a hot grinding tool at her. A situation of this gravity was said to be ignored by the company, even after she complained multiple times.
According to reports, 46 lawsuits have been filed in Tesla’s Fremont factory alone. These lawsuits range from racial slurs to discrimination to outright physical bullying for being from another race to sexism and whatnot. We are yet to hear any official comment from Tesla or Elon Musk on this subject.
