A former SpaceX employee claimed her manager forced her to have an affair and offered her money for an abortion when she became pregnant with his child.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday said the plaintiff’s hopes, Michelle Dopak, for a promotion depended on the sexual gratification of her manager, Anthony Brooks.
Dopak is said to have given in to his advances because she feared her career at SpaceX in Los Angeles would be over if she did not comply.
But Brooks’ behavior became increasingly coercive when he showed up at Dopak’s home, demanding she have sex with him and sending her text messages saying he wanted her to “make him come,” the lawsuit said.
When Dopak became pregnant with Brooks’ child, he allegedly tried to bribe her $100,000 to get an abortion.
Female SpaceX employee claims she was forced to have an affair with her manager, who tried to bribe her with $100,000 to have an abortion when she became pregnant with his child
Michelle Dopak started working at SpaceX in 2017 and reportedly tried her hardest for a promotion, but claimed Brooks passed her over in favor of hiring male employees, claiming she received sexist treatment and was paid less than her male colleagues.
In June 2019, Dopak said she and the team traveled to SpaceX’s workplace in Vandenberg, California to attend a rocket launch and accused Brooks of sexually assaulting her during the trip.
The court case alleged that Brooks insisted on driving alone with Dopak, and when she stopped to charge her car, “he (Dopak) grabbed her waist, pulled her against his body and kissed her without her consent.”
Brooks then allegedly insisted that he drive back to the office with Dopak, but forced her to detour through Santa Barbara, and while en route, he told her that he was married but was “sexually frustrated and dissatisfied in his marriage’.
Two weeks after that conversation, Brooks allegedly called Dopak and told her that he was coming to her house to have sex, and that he was “forcing (her) to have unprotected sex with him, over (Dopak’s) objections.”
The lawsuit alleged that Brooks sent her sexually explicit text messages while making it clear that he was protected from harassment claims at SpaceX because the company’s Vice President Andy Lambert had recruited him.
It added that Brooks allegedly “manipulated” and “forced” Dopak to have unprotected sex once or twice a week and would send her sexual text messages that read “I would like to bend you over the desk and deep want to fuck you. …,” “When I think about you I always get horny,” and “I could just fuck you over my desk.”
Less than two months after the alleged affair with Brooks began, Dopak said she was offered a promotion, which was retroactive to June 23, shortly after the alleged harassment began.
“The message and date were not lost on Plaintiff, as Brooks clearly sent a message to Plaintiff that the position was only received because she had submitted to him,” the lawsuit said.
It continued, “She felt like her career was in his hands, so that if she didn’t continue to submit to him, her dream career at SpaceX would be over.”
The affair reportedly lasted until August 2020, when Dopak told Brooks she was pregnant with his baby, but claimed he “verbally abused” her and allegedly demanded she abort the child.
Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and his company has previously been accused of discriminating against women
The lawsuit alleged that Brooks tried to bribe Dopak with $100,000 to have an abortion, which she rejected, but told him she would not tell anyone about the bribe and would continue to keep the affair a secret.
According to the lawsuit, when Dopak eventually informed Brooks’ wife, Helen, of the pregnancy and affair, Helen retaliated by allegedly sending messages detailing the affair to SpaceX staff and management.
Dopak alleged that SpaceX conspired with Brooks to transfer 48,289 shares of his company stock — amounting to approximately $3.7 million — so that he could “fraudulently avoid paying (Dopak) child support.”
Even after Brooks left SpaceX in 2022, Dopak took a leave of absence for the second half of 2022 to deal with the emotional toll of the events.
But upon her return, the lawsuit said Kopak was given a lower individual performance score on her annual review by her new supervisor Christopher Wang — who is also a defendant in the lawsuit.
Wang reportedly told her that the reason she received a lower performance score was because she needed to “minimize the impact of personal matters on her professional work.”
‘She was often very distracted by personal matters, which affected her performance and ability to work; she should communicate more clearly when things are too painful and choose to take time off instead.”
Dopak accuses SpaceX, Brooks, Wang and other executives of violating California’s FEHA law on separate charges of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and retaliation in violation of California labor law.
It also includes counts of whistleblower retaliation, violation of California’s Equal Pay Act, violation of California’s Confidentiality of Medical Information Act and unlawful business practices.
The lawsuit does not name a specific monetary amount, but does state that Dopak is seeking compensation for lost wages, damages for mental anguish, anguish and emotional distress, and damages “to punish Defendants” for the alleged wrongful conduct and “to deter ‘. such behavior in the future.”
Dailymail.com has contacted lawyers for SpaceX and Dopak for comment.
SpaceX also faces other class action lawsuits alleging pay and promotion inequities against women and minors, and was sued in January by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for firing employees who wrote a letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk .
The company has denied any wrongdoing and sued the NLRB, claiming the lawsuit was unconstitutional.