The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against SpaceX, the Los Angeles-area commercial spaceflight firm owned by Elon Musk.
The complaint alleges intimidation, interrogation and retaliation against eight employees who circulated an open letter airing their concerns with Musk’s public behavior.
“I had no doubt that the NLRB would recognize SpaceX’s actions for what they were: feeble attempts to punish, intimidate, and silence me and hundreds of other workers who simply sought to improve workplace conditions and address the toxic culture set by [CEO] Elon Musk, enforced by [SpaceX President] Gwynne Shotwell, and enabled by all levels of SpaceX leadership,” Tom Moline, one of the workers who brought charges against SpaceX, said in a statement. “We will not be silenced, and I am confident that SpaceX will be held accountable for their illegal actions.”
The open letter, which was shared among employees in June 2022, said that “Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” The Verge reported. “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.”
Musk’s online persona has long presented as trollish and irreverent — even well before he purchased X, formerly Twitter — playing to a crowd that hinges on his every word.
After accusations surfaced in May 2022 that Musk sexually harassed and propositioned a SpaceX flight attendant, Musk denied the claims in a series of social media posts — then joked about the situation with a similar proposition to YouTube founder Chad Hurley.
The open letter surfaced a month later.
The NLRB’s complaint, which consolidated eight cases and redacted the names of employees alleging retaliation, says that SpaceX managers unlawfully prevented employees from distributing the open letter, disparaged employees participating in the letter, interrogated employees who signed on and fired employees who participated in the letter.
Labor law prevents employers from retaliating against employees who are collectively advocating for better working conditions.
SpaceX then announced, in an email to all employees, that it had fired employees for their involvement in the letter — and “invit[ed] employees to quit if they disagreed with the behavior of [CEO] Elon Musk.”
The company also repeatedly “interrogated” employees over the letter, told workers to not discuss meetings with management, “impliedly invited employees to quit” and implied that employees were under surveillance by the company.
All told, the complaint tallies 37 separate violations of the National Labor Relations Act.
Representatives for the employees asked for SpaceX to post notice of the alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act, as well as information about the law and employee rights, labor law trainings for management and apology letters to the employees discriminated against, as well as “all other relief as may be just and proper.”
“The NLRB has spoken: SpaceX violated our clients’ workplace rights. This kind of flagrant violation of the law cannot be allowed to go unchecked,” said Anne Shaver, the attorney for the former SpaceX employees. “We look forward to trial.”
SpaceX has yet to respond to a request for comment.
The trial is set to begin March 5 in Los Angeles.