Elon Musk’s politics hurt Tesla’s millions of dollars in U.S. car sales: Yale study
Since acquiring Twitter (now X) in 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s political presence has caused Tesla’s U.S. car sales to drop by more than 1 million vehicles, according to a Yale University study.
A California judge has ruled that more than 6,000 black workers at Tesla Inc TSLA.O’s main assembly plant cannot sue for alleged class-based racial harassment, overturning an earlier ruling in a landslide victory for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s electric car maker.
California Superior Court Judge Peter Baucon ruled Friday that the 2017 lawsuit cannot proceed as a class action because many of the 200 workers randomly selected to testify ahead of a trial scheduled for 2026 were not willing to testify.
Bolkon said he could not believe that the experiences of a small sample of workers could be applied to the entire class.
Another judge certified the class in 2024, based on the belief that trials in large cases were manageable, Bolkon said.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. The company said it does not tolerate harassment in the workplace and has terminated employees who engaged in racial misconduct.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Lawrence Organ said many of the people randomly selected to testify are low-income workers who cannot afford to take time off from work to participate in the lawsuit.
“Along with other victims and separately, these brave Black workers will continue to fight to overcome Tesla’s endless delays and hold the company accountable,” Organ said in a statement.
Marcus Vaughn, a former assembly line worker named as a plaintiff, alleged that black workers at the Fremont, California, factory were subjected to a variety of racist acts, including slurs, graffiti, and nooses hung in the workplace.
The trial was scheduled for next April, two months before another trial on similar allegations against Tesla by the California Department of Civil Rights.
Tesla also faces a racial discrimination lawsuit in federal court in California from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws. The company has also settled other racial discrimination lawsuits with one plaintiff.
Reporting by Daniel Wisner in Albany, New York. Editing: Will Dunham and Lisa Shoemaker
