Overview
- California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon reversed a 2024 certification that had allowed roughly 6,000 Black workers at Tesla’s Fremont plant to pursue claims together.
- The ruling cited plaintiffs’ failure to secure 200 class members willing to testify, which the court said undermined using a smaller sample to represent the whole group.
- The change disrupts a trial that had been set for April 2026 and shifts the litigation to individual lawsuits rather than a single class proceeding.
- Plaintiffs’ counsel say they have already filed more than 500 individual cases and intend to file more than 900, while Tesla maintains it does not tolerate harassment and has fired offenders.
- The dispute sits alongside ongoing actions by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a separate California civil-rights case in Alameda County court.