California defeats Tesla's attempt to throw out racial discrimination lawsuit

Source: Ars Technica

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) alleged that Black workers at Tesla were relegated to labor‑intensive jobs, segregated, paid less than non‑Black workers, and faced retaliation through overly harsh performance reviews, reprimands, and terminations when they complained. The agency accused Tesla of failing to stop the racial harassment and discrimination despite knowing about the problem.

Tesla evidence not enough to prevent trial

Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon said in yesterday’s ruling that at this stage of the proceeding, “the court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and resolves any evidentiary doubts or ambiguities in their favor.” Tesla, the defendant, is seeking a motion for summary judgment and, as such, must submit undisputed facts that are sufficient to defeat the claims.

The allegations include racial harassment, discriminatory assignments, pay inequality, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, and unequal treatment in areas including discipline, promotions, firings, and constructive discharges. Borkon denied Tesla’s attempt to throw out the claims, saying the carmaker did not submit undisputed evidence that would shift the burden of proof to the CRD.

Harassment

Borkon’s analysis was most extensive on the claims of harassment, discriminatory assignments, and retaliation. On harassment, he wrote:

The evidence indicates that “Of the 240 declarations submitted by plaintiffs, all stated that they heard the n‑word at the Tesla Fremont factory” and “Of the 228 declarations submitted by Tesla, 99 heard the n‑word at the Tesla Fremont factory.” That suggests that out of 12,000 Black workers at least 339 (2.8 %) heard the n‑word at work.

Tesla’s evidence did not shift the burden to the plaintiff CRD. First, the CRD’s claims allege harassment statewide, but Tesla’s evidence appears limited to the Fremont factory. Second, Tesla’s evidence seems to be a non‑representative sample from that factory, so it cannot reasonably be extrapolated to the whole company. Third, Tesla’s evidence defines only the minimum number of Black workers who heard the n‑word rather than the total number who did.

Tesla’s policies

According to Borkon’s ruling, Tesla asserted that its written policies, procedures, training, and orientation programs show there was no pattern or practice of harassment, and that the company took immediate and appropriate action in response to incidents of harassment. Borkon said he “is not persuaded that the existence of written policies alone is sufficient to establish a prima facie showing that there was no harassment or discrimination.”