African-American and Hispanic former Tesla employees allegedly said they heard racial slurs and were passed over for promotions that went to less-qualified white colleagues at Tesla's Buffalo factory

Mark Matousek

Nov 26, 2019, 23:21 IST

Tesla

Tesla's factory in Buffalo, NY.

Six African-American and Hispanic former employees at Tesla's factory in Buffalo, New York, have filed discrimination complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the New York Division of Human Rights, WIVB-4 TV's Daniel Telvock reported.
The former employees reportedly alleged that they lost out on promotions to less-qualified white colleagues and often heard racial slurs and other racist comments at the factory, where Tesla makes solar panels.
The New York Attorney General's Office is investigating the Buffalo factory and has interviewed the former workers who made the complaints, according to WIVB-4 TV's report.
WIVB-4's report follows a 2018 story from The New York Times that described allegations of racism at Tesla's vehicle-assembly plant in California, including racial slurs, racist drawings, threats, and a lack of promotions given to African-American employees.
Tesla told The Times that there was "no evidence to support 'a pattern of discrimination and harassment,'" but did not respond to WIVB-4's report.
In response to an email from a former employee that highlighted allegations of racism at the Buffalo factory, Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied, "I think Buffalo is a good plant overall and the people seem solid," Telvock tweeted.
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Six African-American and Hispanic former employees at Tesla's factory in Buffalo, New York, have filed discrimination complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the New York Division of Human Rights, WIVB-4 TV's Daniel Telvock reported.

The former employees reportedly alleged that they lost out on promotions to less-qualified white colleagues and often heard racial slurs and other racist comments at the factory, where Tesla makes solar panels. Each of the six former employees was let go during Tesla's January layoffs, and minorities comprised 80% of the 57 Buffalo employees that were included in the layoffs, according to the EEOC complaint cited by WIVB-4 TV.

An EEOC representative declined Business Insider's request for comment, saying the agency cannot, under federal law, confirm or deny the existence of a complaint unless the agency files a lawsuit.

The New York Attorney General's Office is investigating the Buffalo factory and has interviewed the former workers who made the complaints, according to WIVB-4 TV's report.

A New York Attorney General's Office representative confirmed to Business Insider that it had received the complaints, but declined to comment further.

Tesla and the New York Division of Human Rights did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

WIVB-4's report describes a number of alleged racist remarks seen or overheard by the former employees, including racial slurs and accusations that they and other minority workers were lazy. The report also includes multiple anecdotes from employees who said they were given physically-taxing or undesirable work, like disposing of garbage, that their white colleagues would not have to do.

The former employees reportedly said white colleagues were more likely to receive promotions, even if they had less experience. At one point, 45 black employees applied for a promotion with five available positions, but all of them were given to white employees, WIVB-4 reported.

Tesla's human-resources department did not respond in a meaningful way to concerns raised by the former employees, either appearing to dismiss them or holding meetings that did not directly address them, according to the report.

WIVB-4's reporting follows a 2018 story from The New York Times that described allegations of racism at Tesla's vehicle-assembly plant in California, including racial slurs, racist drawings, threats, and a lack of promotions given to African-American employees. Tesla told The Times that there was "no evidence to support 'a pattern of discrimination and harassment,'" but did not respond to WIVB-4's report.

In response to an email from a former employee that highlighted racism allegations at the Buffalo factory, Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied, "I think Buffalo is a good plant overall and the people seem solid. The challenge is that we don't have enough engineering expertise there to develop brand new lines. We need to do that in Fremont and Sparks and then transfer the lines to Buffalo," Telvock tweeted.

Read WIVB-4 TV's full report here.

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com. You can ask for more secure methods of communication, like Signal or ProtonMail, by email or Twitter direct message.