CALIFORNIA (BLOOMBERG, AFP) - California's civil rights regulator said it sued Tesla over claims of racial discrimination at the company's facilities in the state.

After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers, the state's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) "found evidence that Tesla's Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay, and promotion creating a hostile work environment", Mr Kevin Kish, the agency's director, said in a statement.

The agency is the state-level equivalent of the better-known US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with a mission to protect Californians from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and accommodation.

The suit was filed Wednesday (Feb 9) in Alameda County Superior Court, the agency said.

Ahead of the filing, Tesla released a statement Tuesday saying it “opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment” and said it is committed to providing “a workplace that is safe, respectful, fair and inclusive”.

Tesla also said in a Tuesday blog post that the company "will be asking the court to pause the case and take other steps to ensure that facts and evidence will be heard".

Excerpts of the complaint, released by DFEH and filed in a California court late Wednesday, gave examples of what it claimed took place.

The agency said non-black workers would regularly refer to areas where many black workers were stationed with racist historical names, including “the plantation”.

Workers would commonly be “taunted by racial slurs and then baited into verbal and physical confrontations” by non-black workers and would subsequently face disciplinary action, the complaint said.

Non-black workers were frequently given preferential treatment at the plant, according to the filing, including being handed easier jobs and given greater leniency in disciplinary proceedings compared to their black  colleagues.

One worker “heard these racial slurs as often as 50-100 times a day” and workers with racially-incendiary tattoos of the Confederate flag would make them visible to intimidate black employees, the DFEH said.

Tesla has faced numerous complaints and lawsuits from former workers at its Fremont plant about racial discrimination and sexual harassment in recent years.

Many complaints never make it to court because Tesla's full-time employees sign agreements requiring workplace disputes to be handled in closed-door arbitration.

In October, a black man who previously worked as a contractor for Tesla and complained of pervasive racism at the plant was awarded US$137 million (S$184 million) by a federal jury in San Francisco - believed to be the largest such verdict of its kind.

The judge in the case signalled at a January hearing that he will probably reduce the award but won't grant Tesla's request for a new trial.