It looks like Elon Musk has to pay a Black woman big time after shocking allegations made in a lawsuit against Tesla. The verdict comes after Raina Pierce, a former employee who installed latches on car doors for the company, said she experienced racist and sexist behavior during her time at the company. And it was her own boss that did the unthinkable.
This lawsuit is not the first time Tesla has been sued for discrimination, but now, the company has decided to settle with Pierce for an undisclosed amount. In the discrimination lawsuit obtained by CNN, Pierce said she experienced a series of “pervasive harassment” while at the Fremont, Calif. Tesla plant.
Pierce claimed racial slurs had been written all over the walls of the Calif. branch, including in the bathrooms. And if this wasn’t frustrating enough, the woman said one of her managers, who was unnamed in the filing, repeatedly greeted employees by saying “welcome to the plantation” and “welcome to the slave house.”
The woman continued in the suit claiming she was singled out for her race and even yelled at and disciplined for conduct that her non-Black co-workers were excused for, according to the suit. Pierce also claimed to be a victim of a gender-based insult, according to the filling.
Apparently, it was another employee who witnessed Pierce’s unfair treatment and prompted her to finally take action. “Ma’am, you need to go to HR because these leads are saying things about you that are not right,” the Tesla worker who temporarily joined Pierce’s production line said.
Musk was not a defendant in the suit, according to the new filing filed Thursday (April 17) in San Francisco federal court. But this wouldn’t be the first time the Fremont Tesla plant has been taken to court over alleged discrimination. Last year, a jury ruled Tesla owed Owen Diaz $3.2 million in damages over workplace discrimination, according to California Cvil Rights Law Group.
He was reportedly called the N-word more than 60 times by his supervisors. Diaz also claimed he was also told to “go back to Africa.”