A Fremont battery company illegally employed Chinese workers, discriminated against non-Chinese employees, and secretly defied an order from the city to shut down its building, a lawsuit claims.
Gotion kept a “revolving door” of Chinese citizens coming to work at the lithium-ion battery plant despite lacking visas allowing employment, the lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court alleged.
The three workers who filed the lawsuit — one U.S. citizen and two with work permits — claimed company officials discriminated against them, and made racist comments toward non-Chinese workers.
The lawsuit by Anirban Das, a U.S. citizen of Indian origin, Atul Deshpande, an Indian citizen with a U.S. work authorization, and Betuel Olivares, a Mexican citizen with a work permit, accused Gotion, its China-based parent firm Gotion High-Tech, and a Gotion supervisor named Chen Li of racial discrimination and unlawful termination. They claim they were forced to quit Gotion after they were stripped of job duties, excluded from meetings, and harassed for complaining about alleged illegalities at the company. They are seeking unspecified damages.
Gotion illegally employed Chinese workers in the country on B-1 visas, the lawsuit filed June 13 claimed. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the visa allows foreign citizens into the U.S. for up to six months per visit, for purposes including consulting with business associates, attending conferences, negotiating contracts, or participating in short-term training. The lawsuit did not allege a specific number of visa violations, but included two screen shots of text messages purportedly showing workers acknowledging work for the company while on the B-1.
The lawsuit also claimed Gotion brought over a Gotion High-Tech lawyer from China who was not authorized to work or practice law in the U.S., and “advised Gotion how to impermissibly violate U.S. immigration laws.”
Gotion and Gotion High-Tech did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. Gotion describes itself on its website as “a fast growing energy solutions company that aims to innovate and create the next generation of battery technology.”
A purported City of Fremont violation notice at battery company Gotion (Source: lawsuit against Gotion in Alameda County Superior Court)The Fremont battery plant was rife with “illegal practices,” the lawsuit claimed. The building lacked proper permits and safety features including fire-protection systems, the lawsuit said. The City of Fremont shut the facility down over the purported lack of proper permits, according to the lawsuit, which included a photo of a red “do not enter or occupy” notice on a window, dated March 20, 2024 and citing “work without permits.”
Materials allegedly taped over a City of Fremont violation notice at battery company Gotion (Source: lawsuit against Gotion in Alameda County Superior Court)Gotion, however, “illegally covered up the shutdown notice and continued to have employees work in the office notwithstanding the safety risks,” the lawsuit claimed. A photo included in the lawsuit showed what appears to be pages from a Gotion brochure taped to a window.
Not long afterward, city officials shut the plant down again over improperly stored hazardous batteries, the lawsuit alleged.
The City of Fremont did not immediately answer questions about alleged violations by Gotion.
The three plaintiffs all complained to Gotion about the alleged illegal practices, the lawsuit said.
Das was hired in July 2023 as senior director of industrialization for Gotion and Gotion High-Tech, according to the lawsuit. Das oversaw Deshpande, a senior program manager hired a few months earlier than Das, and Olivares, an engineering manager brought on several months later, the lawsuit said.
Gotion officials mistakenly believed Olivares was of Indian origin because of his brown skin, and referred to him, Das and Deshpande as “foreigners” because they were not from China, the lawsuit alleged.
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Li, the supervisor, interrupted Das’s presentation on how to operate the facility safely and legally, the lawsuit alleged. Li said Das and his team “would no longer have a significant role in remedying the problems associated with the Fremont location,” the lawsuit claimed. Li told “two of his Chinese deputies” to take over the work, the lawsuit alleged.
In the meeting, Li “made multiple racists comments toward non-Chinese workers,” the lawsuit claimed. Li allegedly said, “It seems that it is unrealistic to expect these old Americans to solve the problem,” along with, “Don’t expect the foreigners to solve the problem because the foreigner doesn’t understand how.”
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