Tesla Discrimination Class Action to Trial

Santa Clara, CAA racial discrimination class action lawsuit against Tesla filed in 2017 will go to trial in September 2025, said Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noël Wise during a case management conference in August. Noting that the plaintiff filed his California labor complaint in 2017, Judge Wise said that, "everybody, the plaintiffs and the defense, needs to have closure on these issues." It was the third racial discrimination lawsuit filed against Tesla that year and the first to seek class action status.

Plaintiff Marcus Vaughn, a former assembly line worker, filed on behalf of nearly 6,000 current or former Tesla workers who self-identified as Black or African American. Vaughn claims that electric car maker Elon Musk is fostering "a hotbed for racist behavior" toward African Americans at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory that allegedly included the frequent use of racial epithets, graffiti, discrimination and harassment despite repeated worker complaints. Vaughn’s attorney said, “The same racism and harassment that was there back in 2017 when we first filed this lawsuit are there today.” He also said that the number of workers signing on to the lawsuit could reach over 10,000 in coming months.

According to the Mercury News, the lawsuit comprises over 200 statements by Black workers, about two-thirds of whom said they saw anti-Black graffiti including nooses, racial slurs and swastikas in the Fremont factory. About 25 percent of the statements included higher-ups calling them the n-word. And over 50 anti-Black slurs allegedly hurled or scrawled at the Fremont plant. Vaughn, along with about half the African-American employees at the factory, claimed that management failed to prevent the harassment after they complained to bosses, supervisors, managers, and even Tesla’s human relations department, but their complaints fell on deaf ears. In fact, many workers said their complaints drew retaliation, including termination.

Judge Wise certified the class action in May, for the purposes of tackling "fact issues" common to all members and for injunctive relief, according to Law360. Wise wrote that their statements suggested that over about eight years, Black workers at the Fremont facility “experienced conditions that might reasonably be characterized as race harassment.”

Regarding the trial’s outcome, she said that, "one way or another," the verdict could significantly affect other ongoing lawsuits against Tesla that are being litigated individually due to additional sexual harassment, disability or religious discrimination claims asserted against the automaker.

Further, the class action seeks a court order that would bar the company “from maintaining a hostile work environment on the basis of race,” and would impose mandatory training on harassment for all Tesla managers and employees.

More Tesla Race Discrimination Litigation

Attorneys are already referring to this case as a “blockbuster class action” because it is the largest of several race bias lawsuits claiming the automaker led by CEO Elon Musk has allowed rampant, anti-Black racism at the plant, where Tesla models S, X, Y and 3 are made. Other, similar lawsuits included the California Civil Rights Department's lawsuit filed in early 2022 in Alameda County Superior Court that Black workers at the Fremont factory were paid less than White workers, denied advancements, and faced daily racist abuse. Tesla response was that the lawsuit is “misguided” and “unfair.”

And there is an ongoing lawsuit filed September 2023 in federal court by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws. Reuters reported that Tesla has moved to dismiss that case or pause it, claiming the other lawsuits should be resolved first.

The above litigation comes on the heels of a recent settlement. Former Black Tesla worker Owen Diaz was awarded $137 million judgment against Tesla, which was later reduced to $3.2 million Diaz also sued the company in 2017 over “vitriolic racial harassment” and “daily racist epithets” at the Fremont factory. Elon Musk responded to the verdict in a tweet: “If we had been allowed to introduce new evidence, the verdict would’ve been zero.” Meanwhile, Tesla is appealing the verdict.

The lawsuits have similar allegations and desired outcomes: to hold Tesla liable for not doing enough to prevent this discrimination that has run rampant at its Fremont factory since at least 2015, with managers ignoring racism.