Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Wednesday was accused by a US labor agency of unlawfully firing eight employees for circulating a letter calling founder and CEO Elon Musk a “distraction and embarrassment.”
A regional official with the National Labor Relations Board issued a grievance claiming SpaceX violated the employees’ rights under federal labor law to band together and advocate for higher working conditions.
The letter sent to SpaceX executives in June 2022 focused on a series of tweets Musk had made since 2020, lots of which were sexually suggestive. The staff claimed Musk’s statements didn’t align with the corporate’s policies on diversity and workplace misconduct, and called on SpaceX to sentence them.
The grievance also accuses SpaceX of interrogating employees in regards to the letter, disparaging the employees who were involved, and threatening to fireside employees who engaged in similar activity.
SpaceX didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
SpaceX has a “toxic culture” where harassment is tolerated, particularly against women, Deborah Lawrence, one among the staff who was fired, said in an announcement provided by her lawyers.
“We wrote the open letter to leadership not out of malice, but because we cared in regards to the mission and the people around us,” Lawrence said.
The NLRB’s general counsel acts like a prosecutor and brings cases to the five-member board appointed by the president.
If SpaceX doesn’t settle, the case shall be heard by an administrative judge, whose decision might be appealed to the board after which to a federal appeals court. A hearing is scheduled for March 5, Blado said on Wednesday.
When the NLRB finds that firings violated labor law, it may order that employees be reinstated and given back pay. If SpaceX is found to have violated the law, it could also face steeper penalties in future cases before the board.
The case is the newest to accuse firms run by Musk of violating employees’ rights under labor and employment laws.
Reuters in November documented no less than 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX facilities, including crushed limbs, electrocution, head injuries and one death. SpaceX didn’t reply to requests for comment on the findings.
In October, the NLRB issued a grievance accusing X, the Musk-owned social media service formerly often called Twitter, of illegally firing an worker over tweets difficult the corporate’s return-to-office policy. X has denied wrongdoing.
And electric vehicle maker Tesla, where Musk is CEO, has faced several NLRB complaints amid a union organizing campaign and various lawsuits alleging widespread race discrimination at its factories. Tesla has said it doesn’t tolerate discrimination.
