Now, new reporting shares the stories of former employees who claim to have experienced harassment, underlining the apparent seriousness of the situation.

The personal stories related to the Los Angeles Times by three former employees echo the accusations in the DFEH lawsuit, including the frequent use of the N word, other race-based harassment and seeming retaliation against those making complaints. The electric automaker has denied the specific allegations made by the individuals to the Los Angeles Times.

Tesla also defended itself in February against the allegations made in the state agency’s lawsuit. In a blog post titled “The DFEH’s Misguided Lawsuit,” Tesla said it “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment” and it not only has an Employee Relations team that responds to all types of complaints, but it also has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team. 

A report published by that DEI team said 10% of the Tesla U.S. workforce is black and minorities make up the majority. However, it also said black people hold only 4% of leadership positions, while white people make up a strong majority (59%) of that group.

The blog post raises the point that DFEH had been contacted almost 50 times over a span of five years with complaints of discrimination or harassment, but seemingly dismisses the grievances because the civil rights agency closed the cases without any legal action against the company.

Tesla also claimed DFEH has not provided it with “the specific allegations or the factual bases for its lawsuit.”

In a separate article, Insider described how a litany of lawsuits alleging harassment based on race and gender have been filed over the past five years, and relayed personal accounts from a number of individuals involved in those actions. Tesla, it said, has…