Tesla accused of discriminating against American citizens during hiring; U.S. judge rules lawsuit will proceed

IT Home, February 25 — According to Reuters, a U.S. judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Tesla of discriminating against American citizens in hiring to pay lower wages to foreign workers, but he also expressed skepticism about the plaintiff’s chances of winning.

On Monday evening local time, San Francisco federal district judge Vince Chhabria stated in a brief ruling that Scott Taub, who filed the class-action lawsuit last September, has provided “sufficient factual basis” for Tesla’s hiring practices to proceed.

Taub claims that the electric vehicle manufacturer led by billionaire Elon Musk excluded him from engineering positions as part of a “systematic preference” to hire foreign visa holders, which violates federal civil rights law. He also states that Tesla’s layoffs disproportionately targeted U.S. citizens.

Judge Chhabria ruled that Tesla must respond to Taub’s allegations. Taub said a recruiter from a staffing company told him that the engineering position he applied for was “limited to H-1B visa holders.” The H-1B visa is issued to highly educated foreign workers, and the U.S. tech industry relies heavily on this visa.

The judge dismissed claims from another plaintiff, HR specialist Sofia Brander, regarding Tesla’s preference for hiring foreign employees for HR roles, deeming such claims unreasonable. He gave Brander two weeks to submit an amended complaint to strengthen her case.

Tesla has denied these allegations in court documents, calling them “extremely absurd.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, an unprecedented move aimed at curbing corporate abuse of the program and replacing American workers. This fee policy has already faced at least three lawsuits.

Court documents show that Tesla heavily relies on H-1B visa holders. For example, in 2024, the company employed about 1,355 visa holders, while laying off over 6,000 domestic employees, most of whom are believed to be U.S. citizens.

Judge Chhabria noted on Monday that, aside from the recruiter’s comments, there is little evidence of discrimination from Taub. For example, data from 2024 only shows that Tesla hired many H-1B visa holders that year, but does not prove the company prioritized them over U.S. citizens.

Chhabria wrote, “All these circumstances lead the court to have some degree of skepticism about Taub’s allegations.”