California Civil Rights Agency sued TeslaThe company is claiming that the discrimination and racist harassment committed against Black workers has been ongoing for many years in its car assembly plant as well as other state facilities. The company warnedIt was in court for this suit Monday as part of its annual financial filings.

California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing has made its complaint public. It claims that it undertook a 3-year-long investigation and was subject to hundreds of complaints from Tesla workers.

According to the agency, it has evidence that Tesla is among others:

• Black employees in low-ranking positions in company. They were paid less than White workers.
• Black workers weren’t allowed to be promoted or trained, and were punished more severe than the rest.
• Black-assigned workers are physically more demanding in the factory.
• Black workers were retaliated at by human resources when their supervisors or other colleagues used racist epithets in an attempt to intimidate and degrade them.
• Black workers protesting “commonplace use of racist slurs at the assembly line” were almost ignored.
• Unreasonably slow in moving to “cleanup racist graffiti with Swastikas and Other Hate symbols scrawled on common areas.”

This agency asks the court for Tesla’s end to unequal treatment of Black workers and contractors. It also wants Tesla to pay unspecified damages to both the DFEH as well to those who suffered discrimination. The goal is to either make them whole or reinstate employees who have been wrongfully terminated.

Tesla launched a company blog postOn Wednesday, they described the suit filing as “misguided”, and called it “a narrative spun and published by the DFEH along with a few plaintiff firms in order to create publicity.”

DFEH focuses on Tesla’s treatment of Black and/or African American citizens, but not Latino or Asian employees who sued Tesla in the state alleging racism.

According to the DFEH, Tesla has no Black executive and only 3% are Black at its Fremont plant. However, 20% are Black factory employees at Fremont’s vehicle assembly plant. Black people “severely underestimated” are in more senior roles that have greater influence and pay.

Tesla didn’t disclose such detail in its annual report. diversity reports.

Tesla was also accused by the agency of not complying with state laws, which require employers to provide antidiscrimination and antiharassment training to employees and to investigate complaints regarding all workers, full-time contractors included.

The DFEH stated that Tesla did not have written procedures to coordinate investigations into allegations of racial harassment against workers at staffing agencies. It also didn’t provide standard training for supervisors about how to handle racial harassment investigations.

Tesla and DFEH didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.