Fired SpaceX staff sue Elon Musk for sexual harassment and retaliation

On Wednesday, eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit in opposition to Elon Musk, accusing him of sexual harassment and retaliation.

Musk, who based SpaceX in 2002, “knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work surroundings based mostly on his habits within the office by inserting vile sexual pictures, memes and feedback into the office that disparage ladies and/or the LGBTQ+ neighborhood,” Musk mentioned. staff say. grievance that was beforehand reported Bloomberg.

The grievance, which cites a lot of Musk’s Twitter posts containing sexually specific jokes, alleges that Musk contributed to a “perversely sexist tradition at SpaceX.” A few of the plaintiffs say they’ve been “immediately focused in a manner that mimics Musk’s posts.” In response to the lawsuit, senior engineers typically used phallic language throughout technical conferences, referring to mechanical components as “chods” and “schlongs.”

“Engineers additionally typically gave merchandise impolite and derogatory names in an try to make jokes, typically on the expense of ladies and LGBTQ+ folks. For instance, the identify “Upskirt Digicam” was used for the digicam on the primary stage of the Falcon rocket, which appears down on the backside of the second stage.” The grievance additionally cites a video “that includes senior SpaceX executives, together with Vice President of Human Sources (HR) Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and Elon Musk, mocking and downplaying sexual harassment and teasing.”

Former staff who additionally consideration of a grievance to the Nationwide Labor Relations Board v. SpaceX, collectively wrote an open letter in 2022 expressing considerations about Musk’s habits and the broader company tradition at SpaceX. The staff had been subsequently fired, and the lawsuit alleges that the order to fireside them got here from Musk himself. Per BloombergAfter a human sources consultant instructed that SpaceX examine, Musk responded, “I don’t care, hearth them.”

After the letter was printed, Shotwell despatched an electronic mail to the 2 letter writers asking them to “cease flooding staff.” [sic] communication channels instantly,” the grievance states. Shotwell later despatched out a company-wide electronic mail “with the topic line ‘Please deal with SpaceX’s mission'” through which she referred to as the Open Letter “over-activism” and acknowledged that “[w]We investigated and terminated the employment of a lot of the workers concerned,” the lawsuit states.

The grievance is directed at each Musk and SpaceX. “Musk believes he’s above the regulation. Eight of our courageous shoppers stood as much as him and had been fired for it. We look ahead to holding Musk accountable for his actions in court docket,” mentioned Laurie Burgess, a lawyer representing the previous engineers. assertion.

The trial adopted Wall Road Journal report this Musk had sexual relations with two SpaceX staff, together with a former intern he later employed to affix his govt group. The third girl who spoke to Journal mentioned Musk requested her to have his youngsters a number of instances and complained about her work after she mentioned no. The girl mentioned that she was additionally denied a wage enhance.

In response to the publication, Shotwell accused one of many ladies of getting an affair along with her husband. Journal. After the girl reported the matter to HR, Shotwell reportedly “knowledgeable SpaceX HR that she wished to take away the girl from her place as CEO.” Journalthe article says. In a press release for JournalShotwell mentioned the report offered a “fully deceptive narrative” about SpaceX’s company tradition.

Some former SpaceX staff disagree. In 2021, after a former SpaceX worker printed an essay detailing quite a few incidents through which she was groped by male colleagues, 5 former staff claimed there was a tradition of sexual harassment in firm. Workers mentioned HR does a poor job dealing with complaints. In 2022 Enterprise Insider reported {that a} flight attendant on Musk’s personal jet mentioned he uncovered himself to her.

SpaceX didn’t instantly reply to Edgerequest for feedback.