Elon Musk sued over alleged sexual harassment horror show at SpaceX

Shocking details about Elon Musk's alleged conduct are laid bare in a new lawsuit filed by eight former SpaceX employees, who claim the “animal house” environment fostered by the eccentric CEO and his management team has created a toxic work environment, unbecoming of the company whose futuristic mission includes the colonization of other planets.

The allegations include near-constant sexual comments and actions by Musk himself – both publicly and privately – that were immediately repeated and imitated by other employees at the company. This brotherhood culture became pervasive at SpaceX, former employees say, with a number of engineers creating products with crude names, including an “upskirt camera” on the Falcon rocket, the “fun tunnel” (a euphemism for anal sex) and “B-plugs” on the Dragon vehicle, as well as teams of employees calling themselves “chodes” and “schlongs”.

“This is reminiscent of the kinds of accusations that were made on Wall Street in the 1990s,” Anne Shaver, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, told the Daily Beast. “It’s really shocking to see this happening in the 2020s, in California.”

Claire Mallon, Tom Moline, André Nadeau, Deborah Lawrence, Rebekah Clark, Scott Beck, Yaman Abdulhak and Paige Holland-Thielen all worked for SpaceX between June 2014 and August 2022, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday. They all claim they were fired after raising concerns about the working environment at the company.

Elon Musk had sex with former SpaceX intern: report

The eight are represented by Anne Shaver and Laurie Burgess of Lieff Cabraser Hiemann and Bernstein and are seeking damages to compensate for “lost wages, earnings and other employee benefits, as well as emotional distress.” The exact amount is unclear.

The lawsuit also blasts Musk's favored image as a forward-thinking visionary — someone who wants to be “the leader of a new, better world of space travel, but who runs his company in the Dark Ages — dealing with women as sexual objects to be evaluated. about their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual jokes, and offering those who challenge the “Animal House” environment the retort that if they don't like it, they can seek out a employment elsewhere.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

According to The Guardian, he denied the allegations and dismissed the claims, saying the employees were fired legally. SpaceX does not often respond to media inquiries.

The lawsuit called Musk's alleged constant sexual jokes, open bigotry toward the LGBTQ+ community, and sexual advances on employees “juvenile” and “grotesque,” often having the effect of doubly damaging workers by encouraging others to imitate his conduct.

When Ashley Kosak, a former SpaceX employee, first raised the issue of sexual harassment at the company in December 2021, she alleged that SpaceX conducted an internal audit that “did not identify any issues.” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell even publicly discredited Kosak's complaints at company meetings, according to the lawsuit.

Following the May 2022 expose that Musk had given a flight attendant a horse in exchange for sexual favors, the lawsuit alleges that Shotwell sent a “wide email of support to Musk of the company” while Musk joked about the allegations on Twitter.

Holland-Thielen further alleged in the lawsuit that she was denied promotions while her male colleagues advanced and had her ideas systematically rejected by her male colleagues.

Holland-Thielen claimed that during SpaceX's December 2021 women's forum, following Kosak's allegations, SpaceX chief human resources officer Lindsay Chapman dismissed her allegations, joking to the crowd: “I don't have never been sexually harassed; I must not be warm enough. When asked about the topic under which sexual harassment allegations are investigated, Lindsay further replied, “It’s difficult to develop one. Things are not black and white, they are fifty shades of gray. »

Contempt for alleged workplace harassment at SpaceX prompted Holland-Thielen to have a group chat with colleagues who shared her concerns in May 2022.

Abdulhak, in the trial, corroborated much of Holland-Thielen's allegations. He added that when he raised concerns about Musk's conduct with Michael Saqr, head of a diversity group at SpaceX, the company chief reportedly told him they were powerless to do anything about it. it would be.

When Abdulhak raised the issue with Human Resources Director Jamin Gallman, they also took no action, according to the lawsuit.

Claire Mallon, who worked at SpaceX from August 2017 to June 16, 2022, also relayed stories of a sexist, discriminatory and harassment-filled workplace. Mallon was allegedly forced to do more work than her male colleagues in order to get a promotion from her boss David Forinash.

Clark, Moline, Beck, Lawrence and Nadeau all told similar stories of experiencing or witnessing sexual harassment or other forms of inappropriate behavior that did not align with company values, and when they share their grievances with management, they were not taken into account.

The seven all joined Holland-Thielen's group chat, where they began drafting a 31-page document containing all of their documented grievances and what they expected from the company. The Open Letter was then shared throughout the company on June 15 and signed by 400 other employees.

It didn't take long before the company retaliated by questioning all of the employees allegedly responsible for writing the letter and firing them shortly after.

“Musk personally ordered Plaintiff’s termination,” the lawsuit claims.

All say they suffered emotional distress after their dismissal.

The group filed a separate complaint with the NLRB on May 1 alleging wrongful termination. Musk initially tried to block the lawsuit by challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB.

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