The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) said it filed a complaint against Tesla Inc. in state court on Wednesday, accusing the electric car maker of tolerating discrimination against Black workers at an assembly plant, mirroring claims in several other pending cases against the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The lawsuit focused on alleged misconduct at its factory in Fremont, California, the electric vehicle maker's principal U.S. car plant, said the report.

"After receiving hundreds of complaints from workers, 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," said Kevin Kish, the DFEH's director, in a statement, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Tesla had on Wednesday said the DFEH was planning to file a lawsuit against the company alleging systematic racial discrimination and harassment.

The company had said it would ask the court to pause the case once the state's civil rights regulator filed its lawsuit.

Despite several requests, Tesla said, the regulator declined to provide the company with the specific allegations or the factual bases for its lawsuit.

(With input from Reuters)