That was my thought, yeah. It's either the case that I'm simply reading too much into it, or the author was trying to be suggestive as to a link between Workman's departure of the company and what's purported to be an environment of racism within Tesla.

Workman claimed to have left Tesla in a better position than when she'd joined, which while vague, doesn't to me suggest that she left because it was an inherently racist environment.

if Tesla's management was all white it would certainly play into the claim that Tesla is racist. However I did misread the story.