A judge in California has ruled that 6,000 Black workers at Tesla’s main assembly plant cannot file a class-action lawsuit over alleged racial harassment. This decision reverses an earlier ruling and marks a win for Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk.
The case, which dates back to 2017, was set to go to trial in April 2026. However, California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon said on Friday that the lawsuit cannot move forward as a class action. The reason? Lawyers representing the workers did not find enough people willing to testify — they needed 200 members but couldn’t meet that number.
Judge Borkon explained that he couldn’t be sure the experiences shared by a smaller group would fairly represent all the workers in the class. Earlier this year, a different judge had approved the class-action status, believing the trial could be handled on a large scale, but Borkon disagreed.
The lawsuit, brought by former Tesla assembly worker Marcus Vaughn, claims Black employees at Tesla’s Fremont, California factory faced racial slurs, graffiti, and even nooses hung at their workstations. Tesla has said it does not tolerate any form of harassment and that it has fired employees involved in racial misconduct.
This case is just one of several facing Tesla. The company is also dealing with similar claims brought by a California state civil rights agency and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Tesla has previously settled other race discrimination lawsuits involving individual plaintiffs.
So far, Tesla and the lawyers for the plaintiffs have not responded to requests for comment on the latest ruling. The case is officially known as Vaughn v. Tesla, Alameda County Superior Court case number RG17882082.