Racist epithets, drawings at Tesla factory, ex-workers allege in latest suit

Three former Tesla assembly workers charged in a new suit filed this week that the company’s factory is a hostile workplace for black employees.

The men, who are African-American, claimed in a new complaint filed Monday in a California court that

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 supervisors and workers used racial epithets and drew racist graffiti on cardboard boxes, the Mercury News reported.

The suit is the second by black employees charging that Tesla failed to address racial antagonism at its factory. The electric vehicle maker also has a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board over claims it illegally tried to silence workers promoting a union.

Read: Wall Street’s Faber says U.S. wouldn’t have made as much ‘progress’ if colonized by blacks

The latest suit, filed in California’s Alameda County Superior Court, claims Owen Diaz and his son, Demetric, were called the N-word while they worked at the Fremont factory, and supervisors did little to stop the verbal abuse, the news report said. A third man, Lamar Patterson, also claims he was subjected to insensitive racist remarks.

A Tesla spokesman denied the suit’s allegations to the Mercury News and said the men never raised the complaints to the company during their brief time at the plant. Tesla requires all employees to undergo anti-discrimination and harassment training, the spokesman said.

The company fired hundreds of workers this month after company-wide performance reviews. The suit also comes as Tesla hits its crucial ramp-up of Model 3 production, its lower-cost electric sedan.

Tesla earlier in October reported less-than-expected delivery and production numbers for the Model 3, saying the production ramp was hampered by “bottlenecks.” A note from Oppenheimer analysts out this week was slightly more optimistic about production, however, adding that stock performance will be tied to Model 3 progress.

Read: People are selling their Tesla Model 3 reservations for a 300% profit

Tesla shares are up more than 2% so far in October, and up 64% for the year, which compares with gains of 1.5% and 14% for the S&P 500

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