
Tesla Is a 'Hotbed for Racist Behavior,' Worker Claims in Suit - djsumdog
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-13/tesla-a-hotbed-for-racist-behavior-black-workers-claim-in-suit
======
jstewartmobile
I wish the media waited until they had more red meat before stirring people up
with these he-said she-said stories. It turns everything into such noise that
most people just don't pay attention or care.

I remember years ago the media was doing the same thing to that poor old lady
who got scalded by McDonald's coffee. They ballyhooed the initial $1M (edit:
actually $2.86M) judgment as front-page news, but the little details--like
having burns severe enough to require skin grafts, or the judgment being
reduced to a few hundred grand on appeal that barely covered her hospital
expense--was always tiny print published much later.

The result? People were driven to the _bogus_ conclusion that torts-gone-wild
were root of all evil, and of course, we end up with the current scenario of
arbitration-gone-wild (like in this article). We traded a non-problem for a
serious one thanks to media disaster porn.

Whatever awful things I can say about Facebook or Twitter, I have to concede
some degree of gratitude to them for eviscerating the mainstream media.

~~~
rhino369
That McD's story is like second level fake-news/rush-to-judgement. Yes, the
woman was seriously hurt. So people shouldn't have reacted quite so strongly.

But now people use it as an example of rush to judgement, when really, people
were mostly right about it in the first place. She shouldn't have put fresh
coffee in her crotch. McD's still brews their coffee just as hot because that
is how you are supposed to. She shouldn't have gotten a dime.

~~~
conanbatt
Don't know. McD made the coffee purposely hot so people wouldn't drink it
inside the local shop, meaning they would get less refills. They knew people
were getting burned because of it, and decided to keep doing it. They had the
power to fix it and the incentive not to. Being liable in a lawsuit is the
right kind of fix.

~~~
vonmoltke
> McD made the coffee purposely hot so people wouldn't drink it inside the
> local shop, meaning they would get less refills.

Source? Particularly since places like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts that do not
offer free refills serve at roughly the same temperature.

~~~
conanbatt
I think it was from Adam ruins everything, don't have a source at hand.

------
jkmcf
_In fairness, if someone is a jerk to you, but sincerely apologizes, it is
important to be thick-skinned and accept that apology._

I think this only works in isolated cases when the offending party
accidentally says something offensive, or there was misunderstanding.

I'm pretty sure everyone understands the meaning of the N word. Any prevalent
behavior like this is unacceptable no matter how many "sincere" apologies
follow.

~~~
thereare5lights
Yea but people that never had to deal with racism coupled with a distinct lack
of empathy for or experience of a average person with little to no power, such
as Musk, will never understand that.

~~~
jdoliner
How do you know Elon Musk has never had to deal with racism and has no empathy
for the experience of an average person? My understanding is that he grew up
as a fairly average person in South Africa.

~~~
thereare5lights
Read
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Early_childhood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Early_childhood)
and tell me that you think that is the "average" person.

~~~
djsumdog
> Musk was severely bullied throughout his childhood, and was once
> hospitalized when a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs and then
> beat him until he lost consciousness.

Huh...well according to that book that's sourced, he at least knew about
bullying.

~~~
kamaal
Bullying is not racism.

Sure bullying is wrong and leaves victims hurt very badly. For most people
bullying ends after a while, when they grow up.

Racism on the other hand is superset of things, of which bullying is a part.
In a racist set up you have to deal with discrimination day in and out, even
if not physical assault, you still have to deal with lost opportunities,
economic hardships and social problems for no mistake of yours.

------
snapetom
SpaceX, at least in the Seattle office, is widely known as a ruthless,
stressful workplace with high turnover. I'm not surprised at all that Musks'
other ventures are similar.

~~~
oceanghost
SpaceX sent me a rejection letter. Difficulty level? I didn't apply.

Another time they called me for a very specialized position, I told them, "I'm
not qualified for this." The recruiter assured me it wouldn't be a problem. I
go through the rigamarole and a couple days later the same guy calls me back
to tell me I'm not qualified.

Weird. People.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Having gone through their HR pipeline, it seems highly dysfunctional. Not
surprised by your experience.

~~~
nooron
I got offered a job there. Then another HR employee called and said wait, they
needed to find out my SAT/ACT scores before they could actually offer me the
job. I had most of a master's degree at that point. I still got the offer, but
it was really strange.

------
runesoerensen
Tesla response: [https://www.tesla.com/blog/hotbed-
misinformation](https://www.tesla.com/blog/hotbed-misinformation)

------
yters
It'd be interesting to know specifics.

~~~
jdoliner
Unfortunately, you may be in the wrong journalistic era for those.

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bob_theslob646
There is literally so much negative news on Tesla lately.

I am not even a fan of the stock either, but damn their is a gigantic
microscope on them.

It would be rather useful to see how many articles are written about a company
and then be able to see if they are negative or positive, b)c I beg the ration
for Tesla would be way negative.

>Tesla has roughly 33,000 employees globally but has never publicly released
its diversity statistics.

100/33000 = 0.303% is representative of the company values.

I bet their are a ton of lawsuits against other major corporations that we do
not hear about, but anything related to Elon Musk will cause a commotion.

This is poor journalism and sensationalism from Bloomberg.

Maybe they will interview one of their analysts and ask them for their
analysis on the issue.

BLOOMBERG... Second.

~~~
pdq
0.3% not 0.003%

~~~
bob_theslob646
Good catch, apologies

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aurizon
I can not grasp why any company does this - I suspect that this is a union
created kafuffle - for obvious reasons. Their fellow conspirators will all
line up and swear, with no phone calls or e-mails to rat them out.

Strange that there were not earlier complaints - the employees all seemed very
happy for the past many years.

Thus I vote for Musk's side in this argument.

~~~
aurizon
I see lots of hate for Musk....

------
whb07
Here’s what appears to be the actual suit in question[0]. Though can’t verify
As it’s not straight from the source.

At any rate, the allegations are pretty vague and seem like those of an
ambulance chaser seeking. They are seeking a class action lawsuit on behalf of
current and past African Americans who’ve ever worked there.

From quick skimming the Vaughn alleges he’s “heard people and supervisors say
the Nigga or Nigger”. It doesn’t say exactly at who it was directed to if at
all.

I know I’ll get downvoted for saying this, but the factory workers at Tesla
for sure say those slang words and for sure listen to rap music.

I don’t think though that Tesla’s managers and executives are out on the floor
running a plantation like Roots[1]

[0]www.civilrightsca.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017-11-13-Complaint-File-
Stamped-Copy.pdf

[1][https://vimeo.com/1816274](https://vimeo.com/1816274)

