The State of California’s racism trial against Tesla over conditions for Black workers at the Fremont factory opened Monday in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland.
The suit was filed in February 2022 by the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) after a nearly three-year investigation. It covers more than 6,000 Black workers and, under California law, carries no statutory damages cap.
The CRD alleges supervisors and managers regularly used racial slurs, including the n-word; that workers referred to the factory as a “plantation”; and that Black employees were called “slaves.” The complaint also says swastikas and racist graffiti appeared in common areas and bathrooms, and that management ignored years of documented complaints.
Pay is a central piece of the state’s case. California’s analysis found Black workers at Fremont earned about $1,533 a month less than white workers between June 2018 and June 2024. The CRD further alleges Black employees were steered into the hardest, lowest-paid jobs, disciplined more harshly, and passed over for promotion. Staffing ratios cited in the complaint put roughly one HR person for every 604 to 740 employees.
“Tesla operates a racially segregated workplace where Black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion,” CRD Director Kevin Kish said when the case was filed.
The Fremont plant has faced related claims for years. Former elevator operator Owen Diaz won a $137 million jury verdict in 2021 that was later reduced on appeal. Tesla partly settled the class action in July, though roughly 580 Black workers are still pursuing individual claims. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also sued Tesla in 2023 over alleged systematic racial harassment and retaliation; that case is in mediation.
A 2025 ruling blocked the CRD workers from proceeding as a single class. Because the state itself is prosecuting, Tesla cannot push the matter into private arbitration the way it has in many individual suits.
Tesla says it “does not tolerate discrimination” and that it fires workers who engage in misconduct. The lawsuit argues some fired offenders were later rehired as contractors. Tesla has declined to comment on the trial.
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