SpaceX and its CEO, Elon Muskwas sued Wednesday by eight engineers who say they were illegally fired for raising concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination against women, their lawyers said.
The eight engineers, who include four women and four men, claim that Musk, who owns the rocket maker, electric car maker Tesla and social media platform Twitter/X, ordered their firing in 2022.
The firings came, they say, after they sent a letter calling the billionaire a “distraction and embarrassment” and urging executives to back down on sexually charged comments he made on social media.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles state court, according to attorneys Anne Shaver and Laurie Burgess.
The lawsuit says Musk’s actions fostered a “pervasive sexist culture.” SpaceXwhere female engineers were routinely subjected to harassment and sexist comments and their concerns about workplace culture were ignored.
“These actions … had the foreseeable and actual consequence of offending, causing distress and invading the plaintiffs’ well-being to disrupt their emotional tranquility in the workplace,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SpaceX has denied wrongdoing, saying the 2022 letter was disruptive and the workers were properly fired for violating company policies.
The suit dropped the same day the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had sex with a SpaceX employee who reported directly to him and that Musk dated a woman 20 years younger than his son shortly after she interned at SpaceX. He asked another woman at the company to have his babies, the Journal reports. Previously, a SpaceX flight attendant claimed he exposed himself to her and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for sex.
Paige Holland-Thielen, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement provided by her attorneys that Wednesday’s lawsuit was an effort to hold SpaceX leadership accountable and spur changes in workplace policies.
“We hope this lawsuit encourages our colleagues to stay strong and to keep fighting for a better workplace,” she said.
The eight engineers are already the focus of a US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case alleging that their firings violated their rights under US labor law to advocate for better working conditions.
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SpaceX filed a lawsuit alleging that the labor board’s internal enforcement proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution. A US appeals court last month paused the NLRB case while considering SpaceX’s bid to block it from moving forward pending the outcome of the company’s lawsuit.
Wednesday’s lawsuit accuses SpaceX and Musk of retaliation and wrongful termination in violation of California law, and further accuses the company of sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction prohibiting SpaceX from continuing to engage in its alleged illegal conduct.
Reuters reported
