Eight former SpaceX engineers have filed a lawsuit towards Elon Musk, claiming they had been illegally fired after they raised their considerations about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination of girls.
The eight engineers – together with 4 males and 4 girls – argue that Musk personally ordered their firings after they signed an open letter in 2022 calling the billionaire CEO a ‘distraction and embarrassment’ and urged executives on the firm to disavow feedback he made on social media.
They cited a sequence of tweets Musk made during which he referenced his penis, and declare he fostered a ‘pervasive sexist tradition’ on the rocket producer the place feminine engineers had been subjected to harassment and sexist feedback, and their considerations went ignored.
‘These actions… had the foreseeable and precise results of offending, inflicting misery and intruding upon Plaintiffs’ well-being, in order to disrupt their emotional tranquility within the office,’ reads the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in California state courtroom in Los Angeles.
Elon Musk is being sued by eight former engineers at SpaceX for wrongful termination
The swimsuit claims Musk violated state and federal discrimination legislation, and is straight liable for the tradition at SpaceX and the plaintiffs’ terminations.
It says the CEO ‘runs his firm within the Darkish Ages – treating girls as sexual objects to be evaluated by their bra dimension, bombarding the office with lewd sexual banter and providing the reprise to those that problem the Animal Home surroundings that if they do not prefer it, they’ll search employment elsewhere.’
Consequently, excessive rating engineers would really feel comfy utilizing euphemisms for sexual acts and referring to rocket components as male genitals, in keeping with the lawsuit, obtained by Each day Mail.
In a single occasion, Plaintiff Paige Holland-Thielen described how a higher-ranking worker responded to a graph of plotted knowledge by making a ‘sexual allusion to an erect penis’ and asking her ‘How can we get it up, up, up?’
She mentioned she reported the matter to human assets, however by no means realized of the end result.
One of many plaintiffs, Paige Holland-Thielen, mentioned she hopes the lawsuit ‘encourages our colleagues to remain robust and to maintain preventing for a greater office’
Rebekah Clark, one other former engineer at SpaceX, additionally claims within the swimsuit that she heard her colleagues make feedback about breasts at work after Musk made a sexually-charged touch upon X.
She mentioned she raised her considerations to managers on the firm at a gathering in 2022 and was advised, ‘SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX.’
In the meantime, Claire Mallon mentioned she reported a male colleague to human assets for repeatedly mentioning sexually-explicit matters along with her, and alluring her to a intercourse get together.
However, she mentioned, the corporate ‘didn’t take any discernible motion’ and the worker in query was really promoted.
The plaintiffs declare Musk fostered an surroundings at SpaceX during which sexual harassment and assault had been pervasive
The eight engineers who filed the lawsuit on Wednesday are additionally on the middle of a US Nationwide Labor Relations Board case, claiming that their firings violated their proper to band collectively and advocate for higher working situations underneath US labor legislation.
It claimed that executives ‘interrogated workers concerning the letter, disparaged employees who had been concerned and threatened to fireside employees who have interaction in comparable exercise.’
However SpaceX filed a lawsuit towards the Labor Relations Board, arguing that its in-house enforcement proceedings violate the US Structure and an appeals courtroom final month paused the board’s case towards the corporate whereas it considers the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs at the moment are in search of unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and an order barring SpaceX from persevering with to interact within the alleged illegal conduct.
The lawsuit got here the identical day as allegations that Musk personally pursued a few of his subordinates on the firm
In a press release supplied by her legal professionals, Holland-Thielen mentioned she additionally hopes that the lawsuit ‘encourages our colleagues to remain robust and to maintain preventing for a greater office.’
SpaceX executives, nevertheless, have denied any wrongdoing and mentioned the employees had been correctly fired for violating firm coverage.
In addition they famous to the Wall Road Journal that the corporate investigates all complaints of harassment and takes acceptable actions.
They usually denied that Musk was concerned within the choice to fireside the engineers, and described their 2022 open letter as disruptive to the office.
However the lawsuit got here the identical day as allegations that Musk personally pursued a few of his subordinates – together with an intern who was employed not lengthy after she completed faculty, and a girl whom he requested to bear his kids.
