Elon Musk is sued by SpaceX workers who claim they were fired after raising sexual harassment allegations

Eight former SpaceX engineers have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, claiming they were illegally fired after raising concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination against women.

The eight engineers – including four men and four women – claim Musk personally ordered their firing after signing an open letter in 2022 calling the billionaire CEO a “distraction and an embarrassment” and urging company executives pressed to deny comments he made on social media. .

They cited a series of tweets Musk made in which he referred to his penis, claiming he fostered a “pervasive sexist culture” at the rocket manufacturer, where female engineers were subjected to harassment and sexist comments, and their concerns ignored.

“These actions…had the foreseeable and actual effect of being offensive, causing distress, and infringing on Plaintiffs’ well-being so as to disrupt their emotional peace in the workplace,” reads the lawsuit filed Wednesday in California state court in Los Angeles. Angeles.

The lawsuit alleges that Musk violated state and federal discrimination laws and is directly responsible for the culture at SpaceX and the plaintiffs’ termination actions.

It says the CEO “runs his company in the dark ages – treating women as sexual objects to be judged by their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual chatter and offering the reprise to those who challenge the Animal House environment if they don’t ‘If they don’t like it, they can look for work elsewhere.’

As a result, high-ranking engineers would feel comfortable using euphemisms for sexual acts and referring to rocket parts as male genitals, according to the lawsuit, obtained by Daily Mail.

In one case, plaintiff Paige Holland-Thielen described how a higher-ranking employee responded to a graph of plotted data by making a “sexual allusion to an erect penis” and asking her, “How can we get it up, up, get it up?’

She said she reported the matter to human resources but never heard of the outcome.

One of the plaintiffs, Paige Holland-Thielen, said she hopes the lawsuit “encourages our colleagues to stay strong and keep fighting for a better workplace.”

Rebekah Clark, another former engineer at SpaceX, also claims in the lawsuit that she heard her coworkers comment about breasts at work after Musk made a sexually charged comment about X.

She said she raised her concerns with company executives at a 2022 meeting and was told, “SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX.”

Meanwhile, Claire Mallon said she reported a male colleague to human resources for repeatedly bringing up sexually explicit topics and inviting her to a sex party.

But, she said, the company “didn’t take any noticeable action” and the employee in question was actually promoted.

The plaintiffs allege that Musk created an environment at SpaceX in which sexual harassment and assault were pervasive

The eight engineers who filed the lawsuit Wednesday are also at the center of a U.S. National Labor Relations Board case, alleging that their dismissals violated their right to work together and advocate for better working conditions under the US labor law.

It alleged that executives “questioned employees about the letter, disparaged employees involved in it, and threatened to fire employees who engaged in similar activities.”

But SpaceX has filed a lawsuit against the Labor Relations Board, arguing that its internal enforcement procedures violate the U.S. Constitution. An appeals court last month stayed the board’s case against the company while it considers the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are now seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and an injunction prohibiting SpaceX from further engaging in the alleged unlawful conduct.

The lawsuit came on the same day as allegations that Musk personally pursued some of his subordinates at the company

In a statement released by her lawyers, Holland-Thielen said she also hopes the lawsuit “encourages our colleagues to stay strong and keep fighting for a better workplace.”

However, SpaceX executives have denied any wrongdoing and said the employees were rightly fired for violating company policy.

They noticed this too to the Wall Street Journal that the company investigates all complaints of harassment and takes appropriate action.

And they denied Musk was involved in the decision to fire the engineers, describing their 2022 open letter as disruptive to the workplace.

But the lawsuit came on the same day as allegations that Musk personally pursued several of his subordinates — including an intern who was hired not long after she graduated and a woman he asked to bear his children.