Tesla disputes charges it turned a blind eye to racism at its factory [Updated]

Tesla Factory in Fremont, California.
Maurizio Pesce / Flickr

Update: In a statement posted late on Tuesday, Tesla disputed allegations that it has turned a blind eye to racial discrimination at the company. The company says it promptly investigated reports of racially-charged remarks at Tesla's Fremont factory.

"Our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusations between several African-American and Hispanic individuals," the company writes. "Immediate action was taken, which included terminating the employment of three of the individuals. We believe this was the fair and just response to the facts that we learned."

Tesla vowed to take further action, as necessary, to address future incidents of workplace misconduct.

Tesla also says Vaughn wasn't fired—that he was employed by a temp agency with a six-month contract that simply wasn't renewed.

Tesla says a May e-mail from CEO Elon Musk was taken out of context. The full text of the email is reproduced at the bottom of this story.

Original story: Tesla’s factory in Fremont is a “hotbed for racist behavior,” according to a legal complaint filed in California's Alameda County Superior Court on Monday and reported by Bloomberg.

Marcus Vaughn is an African-American who worked on Tesla’s factory floor from April to October of this year. Vaughn charges that workers and managers on the factory floor routinely used the n-word within his earshot. When he complained to the human resources department, Vaughn says, he was fired for “not having a positive attitude.”

According to Bloomberg, Vaughn is seeking to be the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of more than 100 black Tesla workers.

The lawsuit was filed by Lawrence Organ, the same civil rights lawyer who sued on behalf of three other black Tesla workers for racial discrimination last month. Those men also said they routinely heard people on the factory floor using racial epithets. A third lawsuit, alleging similar facts, was filed in March.

Tesla says that Organ has a "long track record of extorting money for meritless claims. We would rather pay ten times the settlement demand in legal fees and fight to the ends of the Earth than give in to extortion and allow this abuse of the legal system."

The complaint also quotes a May e-mail from CEO Elon Musk that seemed dismissive of problems at the factory.

“Part of not being a huge jerk is considering how someone might feel who is part of [a] historically less represented group,” Musk wrote. “Sometimes these things happen unintentionally, in which case you should apologize. In fairness, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology.”

“The law doesn’t require you to have a thick skin,” Organ told Bloomberg. “When you have a diverse workforce, you need to take steps to make sure everyone feels welcome in that workforce.”