A view of the Tesla service centre in Singapore on July 16, 2022. File Photo / Reuters
California: Tesla Inc. is waging a losing battle to stop a Black assembly line staffer from trying to add more than 100 other workers to his 2017 lawsuit calling the electric-car maker’s production floor a "hotbed for racist behavior.”
The company is set to ask a California appeals court Thursday to block ex-employee Marcus Vaughn from seeking class-action status to represent other workers. But the three-judge panel issued a tentative ruling rejecting Tesla’s arguments.
In his complaint five years ago, Vaughn claimed racial discrimination and harassment were widespread at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. Tesla responded to the suit with a blog post titled "Hotbed of Misinformation,” saying the company had fired three people after probing alleged incidents.
Vaughn said in a sworn declaration that he had heard the "N-word” used at least 100 times by co-workers and that Black and White employees alike referred to the factory as "the plantation” or "slaveship.”
Tesla has been hit with a number of high-profile suits - including one filed by the state of California in February - over its treatment of Black employees and subcontracted workers at the Fremont plant.
A former elevator operator who won a $137m jury verdict over discrimination last year is scheduled in March to face off again with the company over monetary damages after he refused to accept a judge’s decision that he was entitled to just $15m. The lawyers from that case also represent Vaughn.
The company didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the tentative ruling.
The case is Vaughn v. Tesla, A164053, California Court of Appeals, First Appellate District (San Francisco).
