Tesla Faces Lawsuit for Workplace Racial Discrimination

By Aimee Li ‘28

Since 2015, Tesla’s manufacturing facilities in Fremont, California, have been infamous for alleged racial discrimination and harassment against black employees. A lawsuit filed in 2023 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accused Tesla’s Fremont Plant of tolerating racism within the workplace and punishing workers for opposing harassment, both violations of federal law. Tesla was accused of referring to black employees with racist slurs. Furthermore, employees were faced with racist graffiti in their workplace and common spaces, with some of the graffiti allegedly appearing on Teslas as they were manufactured. Anyone who opposed these actions faced the risk of losing their jobs or positions, per the suit.

The EEOC started to investigate further when the chair of the EEOC, Charlotte A. Burrows, charged Tesla in 2023 for violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tesla was accused of allowing racism against Black employees in the workplace. However, according to Charlotte A. Burrows, “racial harassment remains a persistent problem in employment”. She also stated that “no company is above the law”. Additionally, the EEOC’s San Francisco District Office Regional Attorney Roberta L. Steele believed the allegations in the lawsuit were “disturbing”. He stated that no employee should have to “endure racial harassment and retaliation to earn a living”. The lawsuit accused Tesla of not only tolerating and ignoring racism and mistreatment in the company but also of allowing the managers to retaliate against anyone who opposed harassment.

In 2017, mechanical engineer Marcus Vaughn started a contract against Tesla that was set to go on trial this September but was recently delayed until January 2026. Since 2017, over 16,000 former and current black employees at Tesla have signed the petition stating that black employees were harassed and targeted in Tesla factories, according to CNBC.

In 2022, Raina Pierce, a black female employee at the Fremont plant, claimed that she was mistreated and targeted for her race. She was allegedly greeted by her manager with phrases like “Welcome to the slave house” and “Welcome to the plantation”. In her complaint, she quoted another employee, who had told her: “Ma’am, you need to go to HR because these leads are saying things about you that are not right.” Tesla was accused of “pervasive racial harassment”. The Raina Pierce lawsuit combined two lawsuits currently pending in Alameda County Superior Court that also allege there has been a racially hostile work environment at the factory. Tesla tried to dismiss the lawsuit saying that “it duplicated the pending state court cases and that the complaint did not allege facts sufficient to conclude that any racial misconduct at the plant was so severe or pervasive to constitute a hostile work environment.”, also stating that “Black workers can and do thrive at Tesla.” CNN reported that Raina Piece’s complaint against Tesla was settled on April 17, 2025, with an automaker, the terms of the agreement remaining private.

Tesla’s website stated that since the company is a “world leader in innovation, sustainability and clean energy,” ‘attacking’ their company, which had done “so much good for California,” shouldn’t be something the authorities are prioritizing. However, despite their claims, Tesla has been infamous for many alleged racial incidents, causing them to face several racism and discrimination lawsuits from employees in the past. Tesla was even referred to as a “hotbed for racist behavior” by an anonymous African-American plaintiff. Tesla claimed that they were being targeted by Northern California attorneys and that they were simply caught in the crossfire as the EEOC and the CRP were competing for more “attention-grabbing headlines.” The EEOC was accused by Tesla of improperly investigating the factory and jumping to conclusions, with Tesla believing that they could have “[reached] a resolution without a lawsuit”. US District Judge Jacqueline Corley quickly shut down Tesla’s blame on EEOC and allowed the case to move forward. She said that the EEOC had done enough investigating on the case to file a lawsuit, and the complaint had “more than enough” to accuse Tesla’s Fremont factory workers of discrimination and harassment.