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- Protocol obtained sworn testimony from Tesla workers who said they were routinely called the N-word.
- The testimonies were part of a 2017 lawsuit filed by former Black workers at Tesla's Fremont plant.
- Former workers at multiple US plants sued Tesla, alleging racial harassment.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Former Tesla workers routinely used racial slurs against Black employees, according to sworn testimonies obtained by Protocol.
Aaron Craven, a Black worker at Tesla's Fremont factory, said in a sworn statement he had been called the N-word "approximately 100 times," and saw KKK signs and swastika graffitied in bathroom stalls. Workers submitted 103 declarations in March 2021 as part 2017 lawsuit suing Tesla for racial harassment.
"I was directly called n—– and n—- approximately 100 times at the Fremont factory," Craven said a sworn statement reviewed by Protocol. "I heard the terms n—– and n—- used over 100 times by coworkers, and by my lead Auggie, in the Tesla factory."
Additionally, ex-contractor Aaron Minor stated he heard Tesla employees refer to the Fremont factory as a plantation and Black people as "cotton workers," Protocol reported.
Two separate lawsuits filed against Tesla in 2017 alleged racial harassment and discrimination at the Fremont plant. Former Tesla worker DeWitt Lambert said coworkers regularly called him the N-word and made sexually explicit comments.
In 2019, Black and Latino workers at a Tesla factory in Buffalo, New York, filed discrimination complaints with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the New York Division of Human Rights. The six former workers said they heard racial slurs and racist comments at the factory.
Tesla admitted the firm has "work to do" to be representative of the evolving US population after an internal diversity report showed Black people hold just 4% of leadership roles at the transportation company.
