OAKLAND, California: Tesla is set to face a California state agency in court on September 21 over allegations of widespread racial discrimination against Black workers at its Fremont assembly plant, in a case involving thousands of employees.

Lawyers for Tesla and the California Civil Rights Department will appear before state Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon in Oakland. The trial is scheduled to run until October 30.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleges that Black workers at the Fremont plant faced pervasive harassment by other employees, including racial slurs and graffiti, and that Tesla failed to prevent or stop it. The California Civil Rights Department also accuses the company of paying Black workers less than other employees and denying them promotion opportunities.

Tesla and its lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. The company has denied wrongdoing, said it does not tolerate discrimination, and has fired workers found to have engaged in misconduct.

California Civil Rights Department director Kevin Kish said in a statement that the agency looked forward to holding Tesla accountable.

The case is among the most significant employment discrimination cases against a major U.S. company to go to trial in recent years, given Tesla's high profile and the thousands of workers involved.

Borkon has scheduled a bench trial, meaning a judge rather than a jury will determine whether Tesla is liable for violations of California civil rights laws.

California law, unlike federal law, does not cap the damages that a court can award to affected workers. Tesla could face many millions of dollars in damages if it loses the case.

Tesla has faced claims over the past decade that it fostered a climate at its Fremont plant and other facilities that was extremely hostile to Black workers. The company is also facing a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging racial harassment, as well as dozens of lawsuits from individual workers making similar claims.

The Civil Rights Department's case also includes allegations that the Fremont plant was racially segregated, with Black employees assigned to the lowest-paying and least desirable jobs.

In a separate lawsuit last year, Borkon ruled that more than 6,000 Black workers could not sue Tesla as a class, reversing an earlier decision.

Tesla has settled some individual cases, including one brought by a former elevator operator at the Fremont plant who was awarded US$137 million by a jury. That award was later reduced by a judge.