Musk’s Tesla settles lawsuit with Black worker who claimed employees were told ‘welcome to the plantation’

Elon Musk’s Tesla has settled a racial discrimination lawsuit after a Black employee sued the company, alleging a manager sometimes greeted her by saying “welcome to the plantation” and “welcome to the slave house.”

Employee Raina Pierce, who installed latches on car doors at Tesla’s Fremont, California plant, finalized a settlement agreement with the automaker on Thursday, according to a filing in San Francisco federal court. Terms of the agreement remain unknown.

Pierce says she faced harassment, was called a gender-based insult and saw racial slurs scrawled on bathroom walls. Pierce also said she was yelled at and disciplined for behaviors that her non-Black coworkers were not.

According to the lawsuit, one Tesla employee who temporarily joined her line told Pierce to speak out.

“You need to go to HR because these leads are saying things about you that are not right,” the employee said.

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The Independent has contacted Tesla’s attorney and Pierce’s attorneys for comment.

This isn’t the first racial discrimination lawsuit to come out of Tesla’s Fremont plant.

Last year, Tesla settled a 2017 harassment lawsuit with former elevator operator Owen Diaz, who is Black. Diaz said he heard racial slurs daily, saw swastikas drawn throughout the plant and witnessed other racist conduct, Reuters reports.

The settlement ended appeals from both sides after a jury awarded Diaz $3.2 million in damages in 2023. Diaz was also awarded $137 million by a different jury in 2021, but a judge later found it was excessive. A new trial was ordered and Diaz refused a lower amount of $15 million.

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A class action lawsuit involving thousands of former and current Black employees and contractors is also set to go before a jury this fall, according to Bryan Schwartz Law. The workers say they’ve been called racist slurs and seen racist graffiti while experiencing discrimination and harassment at the plant.

The workers are seeking a court order that would bar the company “from maintaining a hostile work environment on the basis of race,” and would mandate harassment training for all Tesla employees, according to the law firm.

The company has denied the claims in court filings.