Three former black Tesla employees claim they experienced racial discrimination by company supervisors and fellow employees.
According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday, October 17, Owen Diaz and his son, Demetric (pictured above), along with Lamar Patterson, claim they faced racial remarks and racist graffiti drawings throughout their tenures in Tesla's Fremont factory. According to NBC Bay Area, the former workers claim they were called the n-word multiple times, by both coworkers and their superiors. Owen Diaz claimed he found a “pickaninny” cartoon with the caption “Boo!” drawn on a piece of cardboard.
The suit claims that the Demetric Diaz was let go by the company after he complained about the treatment to a supervisor, who allegedly told the 19-year-old he was a replaceable temp worker. The suit states Owen Diaz continued working after his son's dismissal but resigned after the harassment became worse.
While the trio maintains they filed multiple complaints with their staffing agency and supervisors of the company, in a statement by Tesla, the company claims the only complaint presented by any of the workers was one issue of a “belligerent coworker.” However, this is not the first time Tesla has dealt with racial discrimination claims. Back in September, video released to the public showed former Tesla employee DeWitt Lambert being blasted with offensive remarks by a co-worker.
Source: nbcbayarea.com
