Tesla pays more than $1 million to black employee who was repeatedly called the N-word by supervisors at its California plant following years of discrimination complaints from workers

Tesla has paid more than $1 million to a black former worker after an arbitrator ruled the Elon Musk-owned company failed to stop supervisors from calling him the N-word. 

Melvin Berry, 47, was awarded the rare discrimination victory by arbitrator Elaine Rushing, a former judge with over two decades of experience, after a closed-door proceeding on May 12.

The ruling capped years of complaints from black workers that the electric car giant turned a deaf ear to the use of racial slurs on the assembly line and was slow to clean up graffiti with swastikas and other hate symbols scrawled in common areas at its Fremont, California, plant.  

Arbitration rulings are usually kept secret, but Rushing agreed to Berry's lawyer's request to make it public. 

The decision in favor of Berry and make it public was described as rare by Cliff Palefsky, a San Francisco employment lawyer who wasn't involved in the case.

Palefsky told Bloomberg: 'Racial discrimination awards are rare and it seems this was especially hard fought,' he said. Rushing 'was clearly troubled by the facts, culture at the company and the tone of the defense.' 

The Tesla plant in Fremont has been described as a 'hotbed of racial behavior' by former employees 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was criticized on Twitter after announcing that Juneteenth would be recognized as a Holiday both at Tesla and SpaceX but only if employees used a vacation day

Berry, of Antioch, California, was hired by Tesla in 2015 as a materials handler. He quit less than 18 months later when a supervisor gave him longer shifts and made him push a heavier cart after Berry complained about being called the N-word, his lawsuit claimed. 

Tesla said in 2017, when Berry's case had just started, that they were 'absolutely against any form of discrimination, harassment, or unfair treatment of any kind.' 

The company said it had fired thee people after an investigation in the case, but according to a sworn declaration in that suit, the N-word had been used no less than 100 times and employees called the plant 'the plantation' or 'slaveship.' 

Still, Tesla offered Berry only $148 because he left the job voluntarily. Part of Tesla's evidence in the case was a letter a supervisor had written of Berry slacking at work.

The letter, Rushing noted, had been written by a 23-year-old white man with a high-school education supervising the then-43-year-old Berry, who has a college degree.

Rushing decried the missive as 'a classic invitation for serious resentment.'

Berry said he suffered from insomnia, panic attacks, depression and anxiety and had to seek psychological help because he was questioning his sanity. 

He will now receive $266,278.50 in damages, including $100,000 to compensate for emotional distress, of the  $1.02 million settlement. 

According to a sworn declaration in a suit against Tesla, the N-word had been used no less than 100 times and employees called the plant 'the plantation' or 'slaveship'

Ten thousand of Tesla's 80,000 global employees work at the plant in Fremont, San Franciso 

Berry's is not the only cry of discriminatory behavior at the Fremont, California, plant, which has been described as a 'hotbed of racist behavior' in a suit from another black worker. 

Owen Diaz, 52, who worked at the Fremont plant over a course of 11 months from 2015 to 2016, said one of his supervisors drew a black face person with a bone in his hair and wrote 'booo,' short for 'jigaboo,' 

The supervisor then told him 'he couldn't take a joke' when Diaz confronted him. 

Diaz also said he would see swastikas and other hate signs on bathroom walls for days, before they were covered with paint. 

He is now also represented by Berry's lawyer, Lawrence Organ, and was allowed to sue Tesla. 

Since 2014, more than 145 complaints have been filed with the California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging discrimination at Tesla on the basis of race, age, gender, disability, medical leave, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and national origin.