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Dive Brief:
Tesla Inc. and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission plan to move to mediation to resolve a lawsuit the agency filed in 2023 alleging the electric vehicle manufacturer tolerated racial harassment and retaliation against Black workers (Tesla v. EEOC), according to a Tuesday court filing.
In the lawsuit, EEOC alleged that there was a pattern of “severe or pervasive” racism against Black employees at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California, and that the company “failed and refused to take steps to address the behavior,” despite being aware of it, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
EEOC said Tuesday that the agency and Tesla agreed to private mediation and are in the process of selecting a mediator. The parties expect mediation to start in March or April, per documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Neither EEOC nor Tesla immediately responded to a request for comment.
Dive Insight:
Given plans for mediation, EEOC asked the court to vacate discovery deadlines in the lawsuit for the time being.
“Should this matter not resolve through settlement discussions and mediation efforts, the Parties will submit to the Court on or before June 17, 2026, a proposed protocol for the next phase of the litigation,” EEOC said in the filing.
EEOC said the agency has “conferred with Tesla counsel who have authorized EEOC to represent to the Court that Tesla does not oppose this motion.”
The Fremont, California, plant at the center of the lawsuit has been involved in several lawsuits alleging discrimination.
In August 2025, a group of former Tesla HR professionals alleged they were either fired or forced to resign after raising other employees’ race discrimination and retaliation complaints at the plant.
And, in March 2024, the automaker agreed to settle a long-running lawsuit filed by a former elevator operator alleging other workers directed racist epithets toward him and other Black employees and drew racist caricatures in the plant; two separate jury trials in the case previously were decided in the employee’s favor, according to court documents.
