14 hours ago

A trial involving Tesla has just started in California, some four years after the electric car manufacturer was sued by the California Civil Rights Department for allegedly allowing racial discrimination against black workers at its Fremont factory.

Rather than a typical jury trial, state Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon ordered a bench trial. This means that he alone will determine if Tesla violated local civil rights laws, rather than a jury made up of members of the public.

Read: Tesla Settles Potentially Costly Lawsuit Over Autopilot Death

The lawsuit, filed in February 2022, asserted that Black workers at the company’s site in Fremont, California, have been segregated to the lowest level of the workforce and “discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion.” It has also been alleged that Tesla has turned a blind eye to years of complaints from Black workers who’ve had to endure racial slurs and seen racist writing and graffiti in common areas, including swastikas and other hate symbols.

The director of the California Civil Rights Department says the agency wants to hold Tesla accountable. Tesla has vehemently denied the accusations and, in late 2022, countersued the agency, alleging it had violated laws by filing the suit without seeking public comment or giving the car manufacturer time to settle.

California does not have a cap on the damages that a court can award to workers affected by workplace discrimination, so if Judge Borkon rules for the plaintiffs, Tesla may be forced to cough up a serious amount of money.

This isn’t the only lawsuit that Tesla is dealing with, related to the Fremont factory. In 2023, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Tesla in federal court, also alleging that starting in 2015, Black employees had been subjected to racial slurs. This separate lawsuit also claims Tesla has failed to investigate complaints of racial conduct and even fired or retaliated against those workers who reported being harassed.