Eight former SpaceX employees are suing the company in retaliation after they were dismissed for criticizing Elon Musk for his “embarrassing tweets.”
20 engineers were invited to the rocket manufacturer’s Texas headquarters in June to discuss about Musk, according to the dismissed employees, who are speaking out for the first time about their unexpected termination, the New York Times said.
The meeting was called following the firing of five employees by the company, including Paige Holland-Thielen and Tom Moline, for writing a letter criticizing Musk’s “embarrassing” and “distracting” tweets mocking sexual harassment claims made against him.
The June meeting, according to two former workers who were present, rapidly turned tense; one of the vice presidents, Jon Edwards, called the letter an extremist act.
Four more employees were fired for supporting the letter after the meeting, bringing the total number of persons fired because of the incident to nine.
Eight of the sacked workers filed unfair labor practice complaints against SpaceX to the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, alleging that their support for the letter criticizing Musk violated their freedom to form a group for “mutual help or protection.”
The world’s richest man appeared in court on Wednesday in a Delaware case brought by a Tesla shareholder who has accused him of violating securities laws, and now he faces yet another lawsuit.
Key points of focus
- On Wednesday, eight former SpaceX workers who were terminated for criticizing Elon Musk’s Twitter behavior filed a lawsuit against the business.
- Employees urged in the letter that the business disassociate itself from Musk’s public persona after he criticized sexual harassment claims made against him.
- The fired workers claimed that after the initial five were fired, 20 engineers were invited to a contentious meeting with Elon Musk.
- They claimed that SpaceX infringed their freedom to band together for “mutual help or protection” when they filed unfair labor practice complaints against the company.
