California’s Office of Administrative Law will not review Tesla’s claim that the state’s civil rights watchdog is rushing to sue the automaker for racial bias.
Tesla claimed that the Department of Civil Rights (DRC) is rushing to sue businesses without full investigations and suggest the DRC has adopted “underground regulations” that flout requirements it must meet before suing employers.
In its pending lawsuit, the department claims that Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California was a racially segregated workplace where Black employees were harassed and discriminated against for job assignments, Fox Business reports. Tesla has denied any wrongdoing.
Tesla asserted in its petition that the Department of Civil Rights should be required to take additional steps before suing, such as providing businesses with detailed explanations of alleged legal violations while also making attempts to settle outside of court.
Read More: More Than A Dozen Tesla Employees Sue Automaker Over Racial Abuse
This news comes roughly two months after more than a dozen black current and former employees from Tesla filed a lawsuit against the carmaker, claiming that they were subjected to racist comments and behavior by colleagues, managers, and human resources employees. The lawsuit also alleges that the employees were passed over for promotion or assigned to the most physically demanding posts at Tesla.
It is also claimed that Tesla’s “standard operating procedures including blatant, open and unmitigated race discrimination.” Tesla is thought to be facing at least 10 lawsuits alleging race discrimination or sexual harassment.
In a separate case last year, a judge ordered Tesla to pay former elevator operator Owen Diaz $130 million in punitive damages and $6.9 million for the emotional distress he endured during his time working for the company. However, a judge later reduced this award to $15 million and Diaz rejected it, meaning a new trial has been scheduled for March 2023.
