*

California judge says suit can't proceed as a class action

*

Another judge had certified a class of 6,000 workers

*

Multiple cases claim Black workers faced harassment

By Daniel Wiessner

Nov 17 (Reuters) - A California state judge has ruled

that 6,000 Black workers at Tesla's flagship assembly

plant cannot sue over alleged racial harassment as a class,

reversing an earlier ruling in a major victory for CEO Elon

Musk's electric vehicle maker.

California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon late on Friday

ruled that the 2017 lawsuit could not move forward as a class

action because lawyers for the plaintiffs were unable to find

200 class members willing to testify ahead of a trial scheduled

for 2026.

Borkon said he could not trust that the experiences of a

smaller sample of workers could be applied to the entire class.

A different judge had certified the class in 2024, but Borkon

said that was based on the belief that a trial in the

large-scale case would be manageable.

Tesla and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately

respond to requests for comment on Monday.

The company has said that it does not tolerate workplace

harassment and that it has fired employees who were engaged in

racial misconduct.

The named plaintiff, former assembly-line worker Marcus

Vaughn, alleged that Black workers at the Fremont, California

factory were subjected to a range of racist conduct including

slurs, graffiti and nooses hung at their workstations.

A trial had been scheduled for next April, two months before a

separate trial involving similar claims against Tesla by a

California state civil rights agency.

Tesla is also facing race discrimination claims in federal court

in California brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws. The

company has settled other race discrimination lawsuits involving

single plaintiffs.

The case is Vaughn v. Tesla, California Superior Court,

Alameda County, No. RG17882082.