The Los Angeles Times has a great article interviewing three former Tesla employees about their experience of racism, discrimination and retaliation at the company. This is worth a read. This story serves as a way to contextualize the proceedings that automakers are currently facing. The California Fair Employment and Housing Department claims that the company has a “racist workplace.”
The experience described in the proceedings and the Times story is similar (and equally anxious), but when you can read the actual interview, you’ll find the name, face, and individual experience of the Tesla facility in California. Helps to tie to.
“They were waiting for me to make a mistake.”
Workers have a unique story, but they share a disturbingly similar throughline. The two employees have stated that they have been “blacklisted” or “blackballed” after reporting racist behavior to their manager or HR. One of them explains that they are usually given a job with two people. Another person recalls asking her boss, “Are you telling me to do four jobs yourself?” You will be dismissed. All of them report that they are always called n-words — sometimes by managers and often with the word “lazy”.
One of the employees says she stopped harassing her colleagues by going to HR, but for the next few months she wasn’t given performance ratings, promotions, or promotions. She was later fired in an accident where she hit a sprinkler on a forklift. Another worker had to hit five sprinklers and continue her work, she said. “They were waiting for me to make a mistake,” she said.
Other workers repeated similar feelings. After Tesla reported his racist treatment to HR, he said he “began looking for a reason to dismiss him.” Another said he felt like he was kicked out of the company after being “badged by his boss.” Here are some examples she gave:
HR emailed her, “We are investigating because she seems to be threatening someone.” She was confused, she asked who she threatened, and she was told that it was someone on the day shift.
But she worked at night shift.
“People on the day’s shift told them,’We don’t know her,'” Lombie said. “It was just a bunch of BS.”
“Instead of attacking racist victims at their facility, Tesla should focus on taking corrective actions designed to end racist acts.”
The company’s lawyer (who no longer has a public relations department) largely denied the Times allegations and listed the reasons for treating employees that way. But this isn’t the first time Tesla has faced scrutiny due to having a hostile workplace. Last year, a California jury did nothing about his report that supervisors were harassed by racist graffiti and constant use of racial slurs, after the company turned to former workers 1 We have ruled that we must pay $ 337 million in damages.
The company also had to pay another ex-employee $ 1 million after winning the arbitration proceedings. He reported that his boss called him n-word and retaliated again after confronting him by using a slur. Other employees have accused the company of having a racist culture. (Repeat, Tesla denied many of the claims from these cases.)
However, while reading about proceedings can certainly be enlightening, it is also important to see what employees have to say about their situation. It provides more context, as well as insights on how discrimination can affect people emotionally and may not be understood in other ways about their future lives. That’s why the Los Angeles Times work is important and worth reading.