Tesla wins bid for more details on California agency’s probe of race bias claims

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) – A California civil rights agency suing Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc over alleged widespread race discrimination at its flagship assembly plant must detail the investigation it conducted prior to filing the lawsuit, a judge has ruled.

The tentative ruling on Monday by California Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo in Oakland could give Tesla an opportunity to narrow the lawsuit filed last year by the state Civil Rights Department.

California law requires the department to investigate discrimination complaints by workers before suing employers. If the agency did not probe certain claims against Tesla before suing, the electric carmaker could seek to have them removed from the case.

The agency claims that Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant is a racially segregated workplace where Black employees have been harassed and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline and pay. Tesla has denied the allegations and said the lawsuit was politically motivated.

The department can contest Grillo’s decision at a hearing on Tuesday, but judges rarely make significant changes to tentative rulings.

The Civil Rights Department and a Tesla representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In January, Grillo dismissed Tesla’s counter-suit claiming the agency did not notify the company of the bias allegations or give it a chance to settle before suing in February 2022. The judge said Tesla could raise those arguments in its defense.

Several other lawsuits are pending in California courts that accuse Tesla of tolerating discrimination and sexual harassment at its factories. Tesla has denied wrongdoing.

A federal judge in Oakland in April 2022 cut a jury award to a Black worker who alleged racial harassment from $137 million to $15 million. The worker rejected the reduced award and opted for a new trial on damages, which is scheduled to begin on March 27.