Tesla faces major trial for alleged bias against Black workers, after years of lawsuits

A California agency's lawsuit accusing Tesla of allowing rampant race discrimination at its flagship assembly plant is set to go to trial on Monday, one of a series of similar lawsuits being faced by the electric vehicle maker.

Lawyers for Tesla and the California Civil Rights Department will square off in Oakland before state Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon, who has scheduled the trial to run until October 30.

Borkon ruled in a separate lawsuit last year that more than 6,000 Black workers could not sue Tesla as a class, reversing an earlier decision and handing a major victory to the company.

Tesla has settled some of the individual lawsuits, including one by a former elevator operator at the Fremont plant who was awarded $137 million by a jury, a sum that was later slashed by a judge.