SpaceX has been charged with forcibly terminating eight employees for voicing disapproval of its multibillionaire CEO, Elon Musk.
According to a US labor agency’s complaint, in 2022, workers wrote an open letter outlining their working grievances to the company’s executives.
He was described as a “distraction and embarrassment” in the letter, the Reuters news agency said.
The rocket and satellite company has been contacted by the BBC for a statement.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) received a complaint from a regional official accusing SpaceX of breaking federal labor law, which permits coworkers to collectively lobby for improved working conditions.
The lawsuit further stated that before being let go, those who had participated in the open letter had been questioned.
Attorneys representing Deborah Lawrence, one of the former workers, have allegedly charged SpaceX of creating a “toxic culture” in which harassment is accepted.
“We wrote the open letter to leadership not out of malice, but because we cared about the mission and the people around us,” Ms. Lawrence stated in a statement obtained by Reuters.
The general counsel of the NLRB represents the organization’s five-member board, which is chosen by the president of the organization, in court like a prosecutor.
The matter will be heard by an administrative judge if SpaceX does not reach a settlement; the board and a federal appeals court may then review the administrative judge’s ruling. On March 5, there will be a hearing.
The NLRB may mandate the reinstatement of employees and the payment of back pay if it determines that the firings were illegal under labor laws.
Prior accusations of employee rights violations have been made against Mr. Musk’s firms.
The former Twitter, X, was charged by the NLRB in October with unlawfully terminating a worker due to tweets that questioned the company’s return-to-office policy. X disclaimed all guilt.
Numerous NLRB petitions against electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla have included claims of racial discrimination at its manufacturing. According to Tesla, it does not accept discrimination.
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against SpaceX in August, claiming that the company’s recruiting policies discriminated against applicants for asylum and refugees.
“US law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are considered advanced weapons technology,” wrote Elon Musk on X at the time of his post.