Eight employees who were fired from SpaceX are suing the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, arguing they were illegally fired after sharing complaints about work culture.
The former employees filed the lawsuit in California state court.
In a 2022 letter to management, they detailed their complaints, where they stated that sexual harassment was rampant and that there was an “Animal House”-style hostile work environment, the Associated Press reported.
The day after the letter was written, four employees were fired and others claim they were fired following an internal investigation.
The letter asked executives to condemn Musk’s online behavior on social media platform X, then known as Twitter, which he also owns.
They argue that Musk has made light of the sexual harassment allegations against him as he is “seen as the face of SpaceX”.
The employees are seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages, according to the AP.
The suit also argues that the tech billionaire wants to be “the leader of a brave new world of space travel, but runs his company in the dark ages.” CNN reported.
The former employees noted in their complaint that the workplace is bombarded with lewd sexual behavior, where women are treated as sexual objects to be evaluated based on their bra size. They added that they were told that those “who don’t like it could look for a job elsewhere,” according to the news outlet.
The eight employees who wrote the letter got at least 400 other people to sign it, asking SpaceX management to take their concerns about Musk and his online persona seriously.
The company also faced similar complaints from the National Labor Relations Board over employee layoffs in January.
The Hill has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
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