SpaceX sued by engineers fired after accusing Elon Musk of sexism

Rocket maker SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk were sued Wednesday by eight engineers who say they were illegally fired for expressing concerns about allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against women.

The engineers – four women and four men – claim Musk ordered them fired in 2022 after circulating a letter calling the billionaire a “distraction and embarrassment” and urging executives to disavow sexual comments he made held on social networks. The complaint was filed in Los Angeles state court.

The plaintiffs cited a series of tweets from Musk, several of which reference his penis, including one from 2022 telling the former YouTube CEO “if you touch my sausage you can have a horse.”

The lawsuit says Musk's conduct fostered a “pervasive sexist culture” at SpaceX, where female engineers were routinely subjected to harassment and sexist comments and their concerns about workplace culture were ignored. Senior engineers, for example, used euphemisms for sexual acts and male genitalia to describe the rocket's components, according to the lawsuit.

“These actions… had the foreseeable and actual result of offending, causing distress and harming the well-being of the plaintiffs in a way that disrupted their emotional tranquility in the workplace,” the plaintiffs said in the trial.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SpaceX has denied any wrongdoing, saying the 2022 letter was disruptive and that the workers were rightfully fired for violating company policies. The company also denied that Musk was involved in the decision to fire the engineers.

Paige Holland-Thielen, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement provided by her lawyers that Wednesday's lawsuit is an attempt to hold SpaceX executives accountable and push for changes in policies at the location. work.

“We hope this trial will encourage our colleagues to stay strong and continue fighting for a better workplace,” she said.

The eight engineers are already the subject of a National Labor Relations Board case, claiming their firings violated their rights under U.S. labor law to advocate for better working conditions.

SpaceX sued, claiming the labor board's internal enforcement procedures violated the Constitution. Last month, a U.S. appeals court put the NLRB case on hold while it examined SpaceX's attempt to block it from moving forward pending the outcome of the company's lawsuit.

Wednesday's lawsuit accuses SpaceX and Musk of retaliation and wrongful termination in violation of California law, and further accuses the company of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as an order prohibiting SpaceX from continuing to engage in its allegedly illegal conduct.