SpaceX employees claim that the company fired several workers after an open letter to Elon Musk.
Bloomberg reports that SpaceX illegally fired employees earlier this year in retaliation for criticism directed at the company's founder Elon Musk and the company's culture.
An open-letter addressing Musk triggered the 'illegal' firing regarding 'hostile Tweets that were unbecoming of him as the face of SpaceX. Following the letter to SpaceX leadership, nine employees were fired as a result of the raised issues.
According to Baltimore Sun, SpaceX has been surrounded by controversy since a former employee detailed numerous instances of harassment and groping by coworkers. When the employee reported the incidents, they, unfortunately, had little to no follow-up from management. Other workers eventually started speaking up about what they perceived to be a pattern of predatory behavior by male coworkers after the piece was published.
Fired Employees Stand Up Against SpaceX Management
One of the fired employees, former SpaceX employee Paige Holland-Thielen, filed a complaint against the "illegal action" against them.
"After this initial wave of wrongful retaliatory terminations, over the next two months, SpaceX continued its campaign of retaliation and intimidation by interrogating dozens of employees in private meetings and falsely telling them that the conversations were attorney-client privileged and could not be disclosed to anyone," Holland-Thielen's said in her complaint.
Holland-Thielen also claims that SpaceX management continued to intimidate its employees from speaking up again. Additionally, four more employees had been terminated due to the management's "unlawful coercive interrogations."
The meeting with the fired employees was presided over by Jon Edwards, vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles at SpaceX, who stated that by writing the open letter of criticism, employees had engaged in an "extremist act". According to the New York Times, Edwards had also implied that Musk was untouchable and free to act in whatever way he pleased.
Elon Musk's Concerning Tweets Raised by SpaceX Employees
According to an excerpt from the SpaceX open letter obtained by Gizmodo:
"The content that Elon creates and promotes demonstrates tolerance, and even encouragement, of a workplace culture that is hostile to various marginalized and underrepresented groups," employees wrote in the open letter to Musk.
Even before and after his Twitter takeover, the tech mogul has been the subject of several controversial headlines. Among the rumors against him include alleged sexual misconduct toward a flight attendant, according to Insider. Additionally, Musk has made light of these concerning rumors as a sign of condoning sexual harassment and bullying of individuals and various marginalized groups in several tweets.
The narrative of the fired SpaceX employees is eerily similar to what has recently occurred on Twitter after Musk took over management. Musk has reportedly dismissed most employees who commented negatively about him on Slack recently.
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Written by: Andi C.
