Tesla agrees to pay $137 million in discrimination lawsuit

A former African-American contract worker had sued Tesla on grounds of discrimination and racial abuse. Owen Diaz, the worker in question, had been an elevator operator, contracted at Tesla's EV plant in Fremont California.

Diaz alleged that the company had turned a blind eye to racial discrimination and abuse during his tenure between 2015 and 2016.

Diaz's lawsuit stated that he was routinely subjected to racial slurs and employees at the plant would leave drawings and graffiti's of swastikas, racist cartoons and other abusive content, all over the plant. Diaz said that the supervisors had failed to control the abuse, and outright neglected it.

"Tesla's progressive image was a façade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees," Diaz said in the lawsuit.