Suit Against Tesla Alleges ‘Culture of Workplace Violence’

Safety at Work

Fremont, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A new lawsuit alleges that working conditions at the Tesla manufacturing plant in Fremont, Calif., include workplace violence between employees, as well as sexual assaults, onsite drug and alcohol use and “prevalent” bigotry.

In a 159-page lawsuit filed earlier this month, Ozell Murray, a former Fresno police officer in charge of security at the plant, said he and his team routinely seized cocaine and fentanyl onsite, confiscated guns on the property, investigated “acts of sexual deviance” on company grounds, and found that employees who had been dismissed for violent or racist behavior were often hired through back door processes.

Murray’s suit said those who reported issues were fired over bogus charges or forced to resign. Murray was joined in the suit by former Tesla HR execs Linda Peloquin, Adam Chow, Tiara Paulino, Sharnique Martin and Gregory Vass. According to the lawsuit, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was personally involved in many of the Fremont factory’s hiring and firing decisions.

“Musk was a frequent visitor to the facility—and not just for high-level photo opportunities, but to take a hands-on approach to managing, directing, and facilitating resolution of the manufacturing and workforce issues at the plant,” the complaint states. “Musk would frequently visit the plant and conduct issue-resolution meetings with actual line employees, not just upper management bureaucrats. Musk would hold – meetings with line-level employees from every function of the plant – from the manufacturing line to operations to HR – and issue directives right then and there to resolve the issues employees raised.”

The complaint went on to say the carmaker’s workforce in Fremont as “hastily hired and poorly vetted” and that many were “blatant racists and misogynists.”

“Healthy profits have always been more important to the Company than a healthy working environment,” the complaint alleges. “For Tesla, more bodies on the manufacturing line meant more vehicles flying out the factory door – no matter how unclean the hands were that were assembling those cars.”

The Fremont facility is where the company’s Model Y, Model S, Model 3 and Model X cars are manufactured. In 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company over allegations of unbridled racism at the plant, and this spring, the company settled a lawsuit brought by a Black employee at the facility who accused a manager of greeting her with “Welcome to the plantation” and “Welcome to the slave house.”

According to the lawsuit, demand for Tesla vehicles meant the plant became a revolving door for violent or racist employees. If an employee was fired for cause, they were often “loopholed” back in via a temp agency, the complaint said.

In this way, they were allowed to bypass the usual background check, which meant that there were times an employee who had previously been victimized would have to “actually resume working with their attacker and tormentor.”

 According to the complaint, one loopholed employee who had been fired for workplace violence returned to work at the plant and attacked another colleague.

The suit also alleges some employees were sexually assaulted onboard the company’s shuttle buses.

The lawsuit said Murray and others who reported the issues were fired or forced to resign. Murray said he was “outspoken” with Tesla about the safety and security concerns at the plant, and that he was fired “under the pretextual guise of ‘poor performance,’” despite never being disciplined and being promoted five times over the course of his six-year career there.

According to the suit, the co-plaintiffs all were similarly fired for alleged “poor performance.”

The suit said each of them brought up serious concerns about issues at the company or had investigated and substantiated employee wrongdoing, but were subsequently “fired” for doing so, or were forced to resign before they could be terminated. According to the suit, none had ever received any negative performance reviews prior to their firing. 

The suit claims the company retaliated against Murray and his co-plaintiffs and that the group was wrongfully terminated. Additionally, the suits said the company failed to prevent unlawful discrimination. The suit seeks damages – including compensatory damages, emotional distress damages, punitive damages and exemplary damages – to be determined by a jury, in addition to attorneys’ fees and court costs.

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