Elon Musk and his automotive company, Tesla, will soon have to “face the music” regarding the treatment of two minority workers, Monica Chatman and Evie Hall, after San Francisco’s First Court of Appeal allowed their discrimination lawsuit to go to trial.
According to The Register, Chatman and Hall’s lawsuit, which was filed in 2017, highlighted their experiences and that of other Black workers at one of Tesla’s plants in Fremont, California. The documents claimed that Black workers were called slurs, including the N-word, and that the establishment had graffiti of Nazi swastikas.
It was also reported that racial discrimination within the company dated as far back as 2016. The company hired Chatman and Hall as employees in 2016 and 2017.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, on Jan. 4, the First Court of Appeal granted Chatman and Hall permission to go to court rather than having an amicable settlement. The court also disclosed that Chatman and Hall could get an injunction, and if it’s approved, it can help change Tesla’s policies for all employees.
Cornell Law School describes an injunction as a legal order that stops an individual or a company from doing “a specific action” that can be seen as threatening or violating another person’s rights.
Following the First Court of Appeal’s judgment, Bryan Schwartz, one of the lawyers for Chatman and Hall, released a statement. While accusing Tesla of avoiding accountability for the “egregious” allegations of discriminatory acts that occurred in the Fremont plant, Schwartz said:
“Tesla for years has sought to avoid responsibility for the egregious, widespread, disgusting racism at its Fremont factory through one sideshow after the next. Today’s decision means that it is time for Tesla to face the music.”
This isn’t the first time Tesla or Elon Musk found themselves in hot water. As previously reported, in March of 2022, Black employees claimed they were forced to the back whenever Musk visited the California factory because “they didn’t want a Black face up there.” These allegations were ultimately denied.
Since then, no additional news regarding this case has been released.