Tesla Responds To Racial Discrimination Lawsuit, Calls It ‘Hotbed Of Misinformation’

Late Tuesday, electric car manufacturer Tesla posted its response to a class-action lawsuit filed against the company a day earlier that accused its production plant in Fremont, California, of being a “hotbed for racist behavior.” Tesla titled its response, posted on its website, “Hotbed of Misinformation.”

Monday’s lawsuit — the most recent against the Elon Musk company by black employees accusing it of ignoring complaints of racist behavior at the workplace — was brought on behalf 100 black workers by Marcus Vaughn, a former employee of the company. In the lawsuit, Vaughn said he was frequently called the n-word by coworkers and superiors since he started working at the Fremont facility in April, and after months of his complaints being ignored (including one in an email to Musk), he was fired in October for “not having a positive attitude.”

Tesla had no comment on the lawsuit Monday, but said Tuesday: “Regarding yesterday’s lawsuit, several months ago we had already investigated disappointing behavior involving a group of individuals who worked on or near Marcus Vaughn’s team. At the time, our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusations between several African-American and Hispanic individuals, alleging use of racial language, including the ‘n-word’ and ‘w-word,’ towards each other and a threat of violence. After a thorough investigation, immediate action was taken, which included terminating the employment of three of the individuals.”

The company’s statement added it considered its action “fair and just response” to the facts the company knew at the time, and that it would initiate further action if needed.

In addition, the Tesla post pointed to a number of “false statements” in the lawsuit against it. First, it said, the reference to 100 workers in Vaughn’s suit was a fabrication, and called him the sole plaintiff. It also clarified Vaughn was not, in fact, fired, but that he was on a six-month contract which expired at the end of October. His email to Musk did not mention any racial discrimination but only concerned Vaughn’s commute and Tesla shuttles, which the company said was “addressed as requested.”

The lawsuit also refers to an email Musk sent to Tesla employees on May 31, in which he wrote: “Part of not being a huge jerk is considering how someone might feel who is part of an historically less represented group. … Don’t ever intentionally allow someone to feel excluded, uncomfortable or unfairly treated. Sometimes these things happen unintentionally, in which case you should apologize. In fairness, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.”

Vaughn’s lawyer Larry Organ told Bloomberg on Monday: “The law doesn’t require you to have a thick skin. Tesla is not doing enough. It’s somewhat akin to saying ‘stop being politically correct.’ When you have a diverse workforce, you need to take steps to make sure everyone feels welcome in that workforce.”

Tesla released Musk’s email, titled “Doing the right thing,” in its entirety to provide context for his comments the lawsuit refers to. It also referred to Organ as having “a long track record of extorting money for meritless claims.” The company would rather spend more on a trial and clear its name than settle with the plaintiff, it said.

“Our company has more than 33,000 employees, with over 10,000 in the Fremont factory alone, so it is not humanly possible to stop all bad conduct, but we will do our best to make it is as close to zero as possible,” the Tesla statement added.

Shares of Tesla fell 2.12 percent during Tuesday trade on Nasdaq, but had recovered very slightly (up 0.06 percent) during after-hours trade.