zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
Tesla Reportedly Paid $1 Million To Former Employee Over Racial Slurs
Tesla Reportedly Paid $1 Million To Former Employee Over Racial Slurs-June 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:16

Image for article titled Tesla Reportedly Paid $1 Million To Former Employee Over Racial Slurs

A former Tesla employee has won $1 million from the company after it was found that Tesla failed to act when a supervisor referred to that employee, Melvin Berry, with a racial slur, .

Berry, who is Black, was hired at Tesla’s plant in Alameda, California in 2015. He recently raised a lawsuit against the company that alleged a supervisor called him the n-word, then, after Berry confronted him, required Berry to work longer hours and perform more physically demanding tasks than his colleagues.

Tesla denied the allegations, but arbitrator Elaine Rushing gave credence to the allegations, saying in a previously unpublished May 12 hearing, “Case law is clear that one instance of a supervisor directing the N-word at a subordinate is sufficient to constitute severe harassment.”

Bloomberg Law notes that cases involving alleged racial discrimination can provide difficulties when it comes to winning a settlement, since it can often be difficult to prove that harassment actually took place. In Berry’s case, for example, it could be difficult to verify that his supervisor actually did require him to undertake more physically demanding work due to his skin color. That a large settlement has taken place suggests there was ample evidence to back up Berry’s claim.

Here’s a little more from the story on how the result of the arbitration, which normally remains confidential, came to light:

While Berry’s arbitration was confidential, which is typical, his victory came to light in a standard petition his lawyer filed in court to enforce the arbitrator’s order. His lawyer, Lawrence Organ, said in a phone interview that his client won’t be taking any further legal action as Tesla has since paid the award.

Three-quarters of the $1.02 million award is for Berry’s attorneys’ fees and legal costs. Rushing also directed Tesla to pay the ex-employee $266,278.50 in damages, including $100,000 to compensate for emotional distress.

Tesla, for its own part, alleged that Berry had left voluntarily, left no written record of the supervisor referring to him by a slur, and only deserved $148 for economic losses.

This settlement comes after other allegations of racial discrimination at Tesla plants. Marcus Vaughn, also a Fremont plant worker, sued the company in 2017 because he alleged that the company failed to investigate his written report that co-workers and supervisors also called him the n-word. A different lawsuit alleged that Tesla failed to quickly clean up hateful graffiti in common areas.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
Metallica — 'Seek & Destroy'
Metallica — 'Seek & Destroy'
Traffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams. The for this song contains this hilarious sentence: The song is about feeling the urge to kill, but not literally doing it. I love extremely basic interpretations of extremely...
Jun 27, 2026
The Lord of the Wagons Is a BMW E34 M5 With the V12 From a McLaren F1
The Lord of the Wagons Is a BMW E34 M5 With the V12 From a McLaren F1
By now, the has transcended past the point of merely being a fast car to the stuff of legends. Three seats. Over 600 horsepower. And a naturally aspirated V12 sourced from BMW. Of course, that engine needed to be tested, so BMW stuffed it into the only other logical...
Jun 27, 2026
Tesla's Ramping Up Production But Being Careful About Promises
Tesla's Ramping Up Production But Being Careful About Promises
may be learning how to not shoot itself in the foot, really needs the DBX crossover to work out, ’s autonomous trucks are starting to generate revenue, and China car sales continue to slip. All that and more in the for Wednesday, July 10, 2019. In yet another allegedly...
Jun 27, 2026
Texas Firebrand Ross Perot Clashed With General Motors' Insular, Bureaucratic Culture
Texas Firebrand Ross Perot Clashed With General Motors' Insular, Bureaucratic Culture
Many of the things people criticize General Motors for today are things it’s always been criticized for: it is insular, bureaucratic, thinks the world begins at Lake Michigan and ends at Lake Erie, enthralled by its own glory days and can’t make the hard calls needed to keep a...
Jun 27, 2026
Bentley’s EXP 100 GT Imagines Electric Luxury and AI Assistants in the Year 2035
Bentley’s EXP 100 GT Imagines Electric Luxury and AI Assistants in the Year 2035
Bentley, in case you hadn’t heard, oh, already, turns 100 years old this year. In its continued birthday celebration, the automaker showed off what it believes to be the future of opulent grand touring—the all-electric, optionally autonomous Bentley EXP 100 GT concept, or its vision for the year 2035....
Jun 27, 2026
The Wonderful Mini Rocketman Concept Will Actually Become Real, and Electric
The Wonderful Mini Rocketman Concept Will Actually Become Real, and Electric
Join me, friends, on a brain-journey back to 2011, when, for one brief, magical moment, Mini seemed to remember that, oh yeah, we’re supposed to be making cool small cars. Minis have been growing and growing every year, making their name more and more of a stretch, but in...
Jun 27, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved