NEW YORK. Eight former SpaceX employees have filed a lawsuit against the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, alleging they were wrongfully terminated after raising concerns about pervasive sexual harassment and a hostile work environment akin to an “Animal House”-style atmosphere.
The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, stems from complaints detailed in a 2022 open letter to SpaceX management, shared via the company’s intranet. According to the plaintiffs, four of them were fired the following day, with the others being terminated after an internal investigation.
In January, the federal National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed its own complaint against SpaceX based on issues raised by the nine fired employees.
The open letter urged executives to condemn Musk’s public behavior on X (formerly Twitter) and to hold all employees accountable for unacceptable conduct. The employees criticized Musk for making light of sexual harassment allegations against him, which he has denied.
“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 stated. It also described Musk’s actions as a “frequent source of distraction and embarrassment.”
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages. The lawsuit draws connections between Musk’s behavior, particularly his lewd posts on Twitter, and the working environment at SpaceX. One plaintiff, Yaman Abdulhak, pointed out that many examples in a 2021 employee training on “appropriate behavior” closely resembled Musk’s tweets. Abdulhak shared these tweets with the SpaceX human resources director, who took no action, according to the complaint.
SpaceX has not yet responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
