Tesla Discloses Discrimination Probe by U.S. Civil Rights Agency

Tesla Inc. revealed that it faced an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that predates a lawsuit by California’s civil rights agency accusing the company of ignoring “rampant racism” on its factory assembly line.

The world’s largest electric-vehicle maker disclosed the federal probe in a court filing while urging a judge in Oakland, California, to pause February’s suit by the state’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

The state agency alleged that Tesla turned a blind eye to years of complaints about racial slurs at its plant in Fremont, where 20,000 people work.

But the automaker contends DFEH ...