1 year ago
88 SpaceX office successful Los Angeles, California.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images
Former employees of SpaceX person filed national complaints against the company, alleging Elon Musk's task illegally fired them successful effect to the concerns they expressed, including about intersexual misconduct allegations directed astatine the CEO.
Eight complaints, filed on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board, accidental the institution conducted a "campaign of retaliation and intimidation" successful effect to employees who internally circulated an unfastened missive to executives. The erstwhile employees allege that SpaceX violated the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 by firing them aft they spoke up.
The complaints – 1 of which was filed by Paige Holland-Thielen and first reported by The New York Times – allege that SpaceX fired 5 employees the time aft the unfastened missive was distributed successful June.
The complaints besides allege that SpaceX terminated 4 others successful July and August "in retaliation" for either drafting oregon sharing the missive internally. The further firings followed meetings and interviews with "dozens of employees" wherever SpaceX "falsely" said "the conversations were attorney-client privileged and could not beryllium disclosed to anyone," according to the complaints.
SpaceX did not instantly respond to CNBC's petition for remark connected the complaints.
Holland-Thielen and her co-workers wrote the missive arsenic a protestation of Musk's nationalist statements, pursuing a study that claimed helium propositioned a formation attendant connected 1 of SpaceX's backstage jets successful 2016. Musk has publically denied the intersexual misconduct allegations, calling them "wild accusations."
SpaceX laminitis Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX associated lawsuit connected August 25, 2022 successful Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
Michael Gonzalez | Getty Images
The letter, a transcript of which was included successful the ailment reviewed by CNBC, was directed "to the executives of SpaceX," and went beyond the circumstantial misconduct allegations. In the letter, the erstwhile employees wrote that Musk's "behavior successful the nationalist sphere is simply a predominant root of distraction and embarrassment for us," noting that helium "is seen arsenic the look of SpaceX."
The missive called for SpaceX to condemn "Musk's harmful behavior."
"By staying soundless connected his nationalist actions, taken connected [Twitter] which is considered authoritative institution communication, SpaceX and its executives person affirmed that Elon's behaviour is acceptable astatine our company," the missive said.
Additionally, the missive said that the "current systems and culture" astatine SpaceX "do not unrecorded up to its stated values," with "unequal enforcement" of its "no a--hole" and "zero tolerance" policies. SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell has antecedently described those policies, including in an email to employees responding to the unfastened letter. Shotwell besides addressed the misconduct allegations made against Musk successful her June email, titled: "Please enactment focused connected the SpaceX mission."
"Personally, I judge the allegations to beryllium false; not due to the fact that I enactment for Elon, but due to the fact that I person worked intimately with him for 20 years and ne'er seen nor heard thing resembling these allegations," Shotwell wrote astatine the time.
