Former SpaceX employees who say they were fired for writing an open letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk’s behavior have now filed unfair labor practice charges against the company. Eight employees filed charges Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board that their firing was retaliatory and illegal under the National Labor Relations Act.
The employees were fired for being part of a larger group that drafted a letter to SpaceX’s executive team expressing concern about recent sexual harassment allegations by CEO Elon Musk and his harmful behavior on Twitter was. This has also hurt the reputation and culture of the company. company. Life Cabraser from the law firm of Heyman & Bernstein representing the employees.
Five employees were fired the day after the letter surfaced in June, while four more were fired over the next few months, according to an employee who wished to remain anonymous.
What was the letter about? According to a previous New York Times report, an open letter shared internally with SpaceX leadership in June said Musk’s behavior was a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment online. Several claims about the poor culture at SpaceX fueled the letter, including one from a former employee who published an essay in December alleging she would be ostracized by coworkers if the company didn’t take action. bullied and harassed.
This includes the revelation that SpaceX paid $250,000 to the company’s flight attendant in 2018 after she accused Musk of exposing himself and offering her a horse in exchange for sex.
Musk blames employees for Twitter’s problems amid mass layoffs Musk said on Twitter the flight attendant incident never happened and also posted jokes about horses and sexual favors. The letter called for SpaceX to take appropriate remedial action, including condemning Musk’s harmful Twitter behavior and demanding uniform definition and enforcement of SpaceX’s no-hole policy, according to the employees’ law firm.
The letter was shared internally within SpaceX and called on other employees to support the recommendations. We drafted letters to executive staff to communicate their terms and show how their lack of action created tangible obstacles to the mission’s long-term success. , Holland-Thielen said through her attorneys that we never thought that SpaceX would fire us for helping make the company a success.
The labor charges come just as Musk is reportedly firing back at critics of Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion before laying off half of the company’s 7,500 employees last month.