Why Tesla Is Bracing For Another Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

Tesla is getting ready for another racial discrimination suit, according to an annual 10-K filed by Tesla with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday.

On Jan. 3, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) alerted Tesla (TSLA) that they found evidence of racial discrimination at the electric vehicle (EV) company.

The DFEH “issued Tesla a Notice of Cause Finding and Mandatory Dispute Resolution following an investigation into undisclosed allegations of race discrimination and harassment at unspecified Tesla locations.”

The department let Tesla know that it had all the evidence necessary to file a civil complaint against the company for racial discrimination. It is not the first time the company has faced accusations of both sexual and racial discrimination. Workers at Tesla have filed both types of suits against the company, but now the state of California is getting involved.

Neither the DFEH nor Tesla mentioned any more details about the most recent racial discrimination investigation and the civil complaint.

More recently, a judge ordered Tesla to pay $137 million to a former contractor, Marcus Vaughn, who detailed the racial discrimination he was faced with as a Black man working at Tesla, including being fired for “not having a positive attitude.”

Allegations from more former employees say detailed conditions specifically at Fremont, Calif. Tesla factory. One lawsuit described the factory as “a scene straight from the Jim Crow era,” and “frat house.” Women who worked at Tesla describe a culture of rampant sexual harassment, even coming from Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk.

“Am thinking of starting new university: Texas Institute of Technology & Science,” Musk wrote on Twitter in Oct. 2021. The acronym would be TITS (a reference to women’s breasts).

Musk also wrote to employees regarding racial discrimination at the tech company in an email that read “if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.”

The SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO is currently the world’s richest man with a net worth of $232.3 million per Forbes’ rankings. As of 11:22 am ET on Wednesday, shares of Tesla were $933.42, up $11.42 or 1.24%.