Fifteen current or former black Tesla employees filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker last Thursday (30), alleging they were subjected to racial abuse and harassment at the company’s production facilities.
Workers said they were regularly subjected to racist comments and behavior from colleagues, managers and human resources employees, according to a lawsuit filed in state court in California.
The harassment, which mainly took place at Tesla’s Freemont factory, included the use of terms such as “nigger” (considered a highly derogatory way of referring to black people in the United States) and “slave”, as well as sexual comments such as “likes ass,” according to the lawsuit.
In addition, the automaker’s “standard operating procedures include blatant, overt and unmitigated racial discrimination,” the charges state.
Some of those employees and former workers were assigned to physically demanding positions at Tesla or passed over for promotions, according to the document.
According to the charges, Montieco Justice, a production worker at the automaker in Fremont, was immediately demoted upon returning to Tesla after taking an authorized leave of absence because of Covid-19.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The automaker faces at least 10 lawsuits for widespread racial discrimination or sexual harassment. One is led by a civil rights agency in the US state of California.
The company previously denied wrongdoing and said it has policies in place to prevent and address workplace misconduct.
Last Monday, a federal judge in California ordered a retrial on damages Tesla owes a former black factory worker who accused the company of racial profiling after he refused $15 million in damages.
Source: CNN Brasil
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