Fremont company accused of employing Chinese workers illegally, discriminating against non-Chinese employees

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 contends 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 agents 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- visas the lawsuit filed June 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- 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 right away respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit Gotion describes itself on its website as a fast growing resource solutions company that aims to innovate and create the next generation of battery system 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 revealed 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 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 manifested what appears to be pages from a Gotion brochure taped to a window Not long afterward city administrators shut the plant down again over improperly stored hazardous batteries the lawsuit alleged The City of Fremont did not right away answer questions about alleged violations by Gotion The three plaintiffs all complained to Gotion about the alleged illegal practices the lawsuit noted Das was hired in July as senior director of industrialization for Gotion and Gotion High-Tech according to the lawsuit Das oversaw Deshpande a senior operation manager hired a sparse months earlier than Das and Olivares an engineering manager brought on several months later the lawsuit noted Gotion executives mistakenly inferred 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 Related Articles Purdue Pharma s billion opioid settlement plan could get votes from casualties and cities Appeals court says President Trump can mobilize California National Guard for now while affair resumes Monday Man accused of running over killing victim at Bay Area mall Bay Area man sentenced to nine years for shooting wounding stepfather Mountain View man pleads guilty to defrauding employer with fake military leave In June the three men met with Gotion management to identify specific moves that needed to be taken to ensure the Fremont location could operate lawfully and safely the lawsuit disclosed Li the supervisor interrupted Das s presentation on how to operate the facility safely and legally the lawsuit alleged Li reported Das and his crew would no longer have a essential role in remedying the problems associated with the Fremont location the lawsuit claimed Li reported 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 declared It seems that it is unrealistic to expect these old Americans to solve the trouble along with Don t expect the foreigners to solve the difficulty because the foreigner doesn t understand how