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The
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in a filing in
federal court in San Francisco late on Wednesday said its
September lawsuit is not duplicative of two other pending racial
discrimination cases against Tesla, as the company had argued in
an attempt to pause the case last month.
"Tesla has filed a groundless motion in a transparent attempt to
deflect attention from the EEOC’s substantive allegations and
the serious racial problems that pervade its Fremont
Facilities," the agency said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The EEOC alleges that from 2015 to the present, Black workers at
the Fremont plant have routinely been subjected to racist slurs
and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses, and have faced
retaliation for complaining.
California's Civil Rights Department in a 2022 lawsuit accused
Tesla of tolerating similar conditions and discriminating
against Black workers when making decisions about pay,
promotions and work assignments. A pending proposed class action
filed by Tesla workers in 2017 also alleges racial harassment.
Tesla, which has denied wrongdoing, also is appealing a $3.2
million award granted to a Black former elevator operator at the
Fremont plant in a separate racial harassment lawsuit.
In its motion last month, Tesla claimed that the commission had
rushed to sue the company as part of an interagency feud with
the California agency. Tesla said that because the claims are
similar, the California case and the proposed class action
should play out before the EEOC case moves forward.
The commission on Wednesday said its case is not redundant
because it alleges violations of a federal workplace
discrimination law, while the other cases are in state court and
involve California laws. The EEOC also disputed Tesla's claim
that it did not give the company an opportunity to settle the
claims before suing.
Tesla last month also moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that
the EEOC failed to identify any specific instances of
discrimination. The commission has not yet responded to that
filing.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by
Alexia Garamfalvi)
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