SpaceX accused of unlawfully firing employees who were critical of Elon Musk
Jan 4, 2024, 3:26 PM
A U.S. labor agency has accused聽聽of unlawfully firing employees聽聽critical of CEO Elon Musk and creating an impression that worker activities were under surveillance by the rocket ship company.
A Los Angeles-based regional director for the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday filed a complaint that consolidates eight unfair labor practice charges against SpaceX. The cases stem from the company鈥檚 alleged actions following the circulation of the employees鈥� letter back in June 2022.
The letter, among other workplace concerns, called on executives to condemn Musk鈥檚 public behavior on X 鈥� the platform then-known as Twitter 鈥� and hold everyone accountable for unacceptable conduct. Musk鈥檚 actions included making light of聽 against him, which the billionaire denied.
鈥淎s our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX 鈥� every tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company,鈥� the open letter said at the time. The letter also referred to Musk鈥檚 actions as a 鈥漟requent source of distraction and embarrassment.鈥�
A total of聽 for their involvement in the letter, according to a November 2022 filing made on behalf of one of the employees to the NLRB, although only eight are included in Wednesday鈥檚 complaint.
In addition to the firings, the complaint accuses SpaceX of interrogating other workers about the letter, announcing that employees were terminated for their participation in the letter and 鈥渋nviting employees to quit if they disagreed with the behavior of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.鈥�
The complaint also alleges that some were shown screen shots of communications between employees about the letter, which 鈥渃reated an impression among (SpaceX鈥檚) employees that their protected concerted activities were under surveillance.鈥�
SpaceX did not immediately respond to The Associated Press鈥� requests for comment Thursday.
The Hawthorne, California, company has until mid-January to respond to the complaint, according to Wednesday鈥檚 filing. The complaint marks the NLRB鈥檚 first step towards litigating these allegations and seeking a settlement. If a settlement isn鈥檛 reached, a hearing is scheduled to begin on March 5 in Los Angeles.
