SpaceX Accused Of Unlawfully Firing Employees Who Were Critical Of Elon Musk

NEW YORK – A US labour agency has accused SpaceX of illegally terminating employees who signed an open letter critical of CEO Elon Musk and creating the impression that the rocket ship business was monitoring worker activity.

On Wednesday, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against SpaceX that consolidated eight unfair labour practice claims. The claims derive from the alleged conduct of the firm following the distribution of the employees’ letter in June 2022.

Among other workplace concerns, the letter urged officials to criticize Musk’s public behaviour on X (then known as Twitter) and hold everyone accountable for bad behaviour. Musk’s actions included downplaying sexual harassment charges levelled against him, which the billionaire disputed.

SpaceX Accused Of Unlawfully Firing Employees Who Were Critical Of Elon Musk

“As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company,” the letter said at the time. Musk’s actions were also described in the letter as a “frequent source of e”

SpaceX Accused Of Unlawfully Firing Employees Who Were Critical Of Elon Musk

According to a November 2022 petition submitted to the NLRB on behalf of one of the employees, nine employees were soon terminated for their role in the letter. However, only eight are listed in Wednesday’s complaint.

SpaceX did not immediately answer calls for comment from The Associated Press on Thursday.

In addition to the firings, the complaint accuses SpaceX of questioning other employees about the letter, publicizing that people had been fired for their involvement in the letter, and “inviting employees to quit if they disagreed with the behavior of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.”

According to the lawsuit, some employees were shown screen pictures of internal discussions concerning the letter, which “created the impression among (SpaceX’s) employees that their protected concerted activities were under surveillance.”

SpaceX Accused Of Unlawfully Firing Employees Who Were Critical Of Elon Musk

According to the petition on Wednesday, the Hawthorne, California-based corporation has until mid-January to reply to the complaint. The lawsuit is the NLRB’s initial step in litigating these charges and attempting to settle them. If no settlement is reached, a hearing in Los Angeles will begin on March 5.

SOURCE – (reuters)