Ex-employees sue Elon Musk and SpaceX, claiming illegal firings after they called out alleged gender bias and harassment

New York CNN — SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk were sued on Wednesday by former employees who claim they were illegally fired for raising concerns about gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the rocket company. The lawsuit, brought by eight employees who were fired in 2022, alleges that Musk wants to be “the leader to a brave new world of space travel, but runs his company in the dark ages — treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the ‘Animal House’ environment that if they don’t like it they can seek employment elsewhere,” according to the complaint, filed in state court in California. In response to the 2022 letter, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell previously said she would enforce SpaceX’s “zero tolerance” standards against employee harassment, but the The New York Times reported that she said the employees had been fired for making other staff feel “uncomfortable.” SpaceX previously faced similar complaints filed to the National Labor Relations Board over the termination of employees involved in the letter. Those complaints claimed that the terminations amounted to employees being fired for engaging in “concerted protected activities.” One former employee who filed an NLRB complaint and is a plaintiff in the Wednesday lawsuit, Tom Moline, previously told CNN that SpaceX management used an “‘ends justifies the means’ philosophy to turn a blind eye to the ongoing mistreatment, harassment, and abuse reported by my colleagues, much of which was directly encouraged and inspired by the words and actions of the CEO.” Earlier this year, SpaceX responded to a consolidated complaint from the NLRB with its own lawsuit, alleging that the structure of the NLRB itself is “unconstitutional.” Wednesday’s complaint details the statements by Musk and the actions of other workers that the fired employees claim contributed to a hostile work environment and “pervasively sexist culture” at SpaceX. Video Ad Feedback Former Employees Sue SpaceX, Claiming Illegal Firings 03:16 - Source: CNN Former Employees Sue SpaceX, Claiming Illegal Firings 03:16 It points to multiple crude posts by Musk on Twitter, now called X, such as one containing a plan “to create a Texas university similar to MIT which he would call ‘TITS’ and where ‘Ds would get degrees,’ accompanied by an altered photo rendering a rocket to appear to be a giant penis,” the complaint states.