California puts Tesla's handling of racism complaints before a single judge

Judge Peter Borkon will make the final ruling in a bench trial that proceeds without a jury ^[3]. Brett Watson, for the California Civil Rights Department, opened by showing the court photographs taken around the Fremont factory: the N-word scratched into a grey-blue metal surface and written in marker on a wall, plus "KKK", swastikas, the Confederate flag, a white supremacist logo and "go back to Africa" found in bathrooms, on lockers, workplace benches and lunch tables ^[13].

Watson said these experiences could not be dismissed as the work of a few bad apples, and that hundreds of complaints to Tesla and the Civil Rights Department would show they were not isolated ^[4]. That places the volume of complaints, and what the company did with each one, at the center of the case.

Tesla's answer sits on the same ground. The company has denied wrongdoing, called the lawsuit "misguided" and said it has "always disciplined and terminated employees who engage in misconduct, including those who use racial slurs or harass others in different ways" ^[9]. Both accounts will be tested against the same internal record. The state's first witness, who worked at Tesla from 2021 to 2024, said he was called the N-word by another employee and that the company gave him a write-up on the situation instead of the instigator ^[10]. The second, a senior security manager of six years, said he habitually worked with human resources when complaints of discrimination came in. He also said he saw Black employees treated differently from workers of other races ^[11].

The reason this record is being read in open court at all is standing. The outcome could have sweeping consequences for Tesla because the state is not bound by the same arbitration agreements as employees ^[7]. It is the first such suit against Tesla brought by a government agency on behalf of dozens of workers to reach trial ^[6].

A skeptic's version of the defense was stated in the room. "The state is blaming the employer, when it's the victim," said Tyree Jones, Tesla's lead lawyer, referring to the racist graffiti ^[15]. Jones also said, "By this action, the state of California attacks the way many Black people greet each other" ^[16], and Tesla has said the Fremont plant has a majority-minority workforce and provides "the best paying jobs in the automotive industry" to tens of thousands of Californians ^[17]. The relief sought includes an injunction that could force Tesla to change its labor practices and internal policies ^[5], and a court writing that order would be working from how individual complaints were closed out.

For other employers, the evidence on trial is the trail from complaint to outcome, down to whether the person written up was the one who reported the conduct ^[10]. Opening statements were Monday ^[1], and the trial is expected to continue through the end of October ^[8], about six weeks in all ^[1]. The state called three witnesses on the first day, all former Black employees at Tesla who said they witnessed or were subject to racism at the company ^[19].