Former employees sue SpaceX and Elon Musk for dismissal after criticism

NEW YORK — Eight former employees have sued SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, alleging that Musk ordered their firing after they challenged what they called rampant sexual harassment and an “Animal House”-style hostile work environment at the company.

The employees, who filed suit in a California state court, detailed their complaints in a 2022 open letter to management that they shared via the company intranet. The next day, four of the plaintiffs were fired, they alleged; others were later fired after an internal investigation.

In January, the federal National Labor Relations Board filed its own complaint against SpaceX based on issues raised by nine fired employees.

Among other workplace concerns, the open letter called on executives to condemn Musk’s public behavior on X — the platform then known as Twitter — and to hold all employees accountable for unacceptable conduct. Musk’s actions included downplaying allegations of sexual harassment against him – allegations the billionaire denied.

“As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX – every tweet Elon sends is a de facto public statement from the company,” the open letter said at the time. The letter also referred to Musk’s actions as a “frequent source of distraction and embarrassment.”

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages.

The complaint established connections between Musk’s behavior – in particular, his often obscene Twitter posts – and the work environment at SpaceX. It states that one of the plaintiffs, Yaman Abdulhak, noted that many of the inappropriate examples cited in a 2021 “appropriate behavior” employee training “very closely resembled the content of Musk’s tweets.” Abdulhak sent examples of these tweets to SpaceX’s human resources director, who took no action, the complaint states.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.