Eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit in opposition to Elon Musk on Wednesday alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.
Musk, who based SpaceX in 2002, “knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work atmosphere based mostly upon his conduct of interjecting into the office vile sexual pictures, memes, and commentary that demeaned ladies and/or the LGBTQ+ neighborhood,” says the staff’ grievance, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg.
The grievance — which cites lots of Musk’s Twitter posts making sexually express jokes — claims that Musk fostered “a perversely sexist tradition at SpaceX.” A number of of the plaintiffs say they “skilled direct harassment that mimicked Musk’s posts.” In accordance with the swimsuit, senior engineers usually used phallic language throughout technical conferences, referring to mechanical elements as “chodes” and “schlongs.”
Engineers allegedly used sexual jokes as product names
“It was additionally widespread for engineers to use crude and demeaning names to merchandise in an try at humor, usually on the expense of ladies and LGBTQ+ people. For instance, the title ‘Upskirt Digital camera’ was used for a digicam on the primary stage of the Falcon rocket that views the underside of the second stage.” The grievance additionally cites a video “starring SpaceX’s higher administration, together with Vice President of Human Sources (HR) Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and Elon Musk that mocks and makes mild of sexual misconduct and banter.”
The previous workers, who’re additionally pursuing a Nationwide Labor Relations Board grievance in opposition to SpaceX, collaborated on an open letter in 2022 that raised considerations about Musk’s conduct and the broader firm tradition at SpaceX. The workers had been subsequently fired — and their lawsuit alleges the order to terminate them got here from Musk himself. Per Bloomberg, after a human assets official instructed SpaceX conduct an investigation, Musk replied, “I don’t care, fireplace them.”
After the letter was printed, Shotwell emailed two of the letter writers telling them to “cease flooding workers [sic] communications channels instantly,” the grievance claims. Shotwell later despatched a companywide e-mail “with the topic line ‘Please keep targeted on the SpaceX mission,’ by which she referred to as the Open Letter ‘overreaching activism’ and acknowledged that ‘[w]e carried out an investigation and have terminated quite a few workers concerned,’” in accordance with the swimsuit.
The grievance targets each Musk and SpaceX. “Musk thinks he’s above the regulation. Our eight courageous purchasers stood as much as him and had been fired for doing so. We look ahead to holding Musk accountable for his actions at trial,” Laurie Burgess, an legal professional representing the previous engineers, mentioned in an announcement.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a Wall Road Journal report that Musk had sexual relationships with two SpaceX workers, together with a former intern he later employed onto his government crew. A 3rd lady who spoke to the Journal mentioned Musk requested her a number of occasions to have his kids and complained about her work efficiency after she mentioned no. The girl mentioned she was additionally denied a increase.
Shotwell accused one of many ladies of getting an affair together with her husband, in accordance with the Journal. After the girl reported this to HR, Shotwell reportedly “instructed the HR division at SpaceX that she needed the girl faraway from the workplace of the chief government,” the Journal’s article says. In an announcement to the Journal, Shotwell mentioned the report “paint[s] a totally deceptive narrative” of SpaceX’s firm tradition.
Some former SpaceX workers disagree. In 2021, after a former SpaceX worker printed an essay detailing a number of situations by which she was groped by her male colleagues, 5 former workers claimed there was a tradition of sexual harassment on the firm. The workers mentioned HR dealt with complaints poorly. In 2022, Enterprise Insider reported {that a} flight attendant on Musk’s non-public jet claimed he uncovered himself to her.
SpaceX didn’t instantly reply to The Verge’s request for remark.