Tesla to Pay Black Employee 3.2 Million Over Workplace Racism

Photo: Scott Olson / Staff (Getty Images)

Yesterday, a jury in San Francisco ordered Tesla to pay just under $3.2 million to a former factory worker who alleged that the automaker ignored the racist treatment he received during his time working there as a contractor. The New York Times reports the trial lasted five days and ended with plaintiff Owen Diaz receiving “$3 million in punitive damages, and $175,000 in past and future noneconomic damages.”

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Diaz claimed that while he worked for Tesla, other workers and even his own supervisor used racial slurs on a regular basis, sometimes directed at him. Diaz also claims these employees “wrote racial epithets, and drew symbols and caricatures, around the factory,” as the Times reports. After Diaz complained to management about these issues, he said the company did little to put a stop to the racist conduct. Diaz put up with the racism for a while, but he reportedly drew the line at his son receiving similar treatment when he started working at Tesla as well.

“The prevalence of the use of the N-word inside of Tesla’s workplace is an indication that they did not care about how their African American employees felt,” Bernard Alexander, one of Diaz’s lawyers, said during closing arguments, as quoted by the Times. “It was a complete affront to every African American inside the workplace.”

But while $3.2 million may sound like a lot of money, it’s basically pennies to Tesla, a company with a market cap of just under $600 billion. And it’s far less than Diaz was originally awarded. Back in 2021, a jury ordered Tesla to pay Diaz $137 million in damages at the end of a previous trial. The judge later lowered that figure to $15 million, which led Diaz to challenge the judge’s decision in the new trial that just concluded.

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Unfortunately for Diaz, that decision means he lost out on nearly $12 million. Hopefully, going back to trial at least helps shed more light on Tesla’s alleged history of mistreating Black employees, ignoring sexual harassment of female employees and numerous safety violations.