NLRB accuses Elon Musk’s SpaceX of illegally firing workers for criticizing him

SpaceX faces a complaint from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging the illicit dismissal of eight staff members who drafted a letter criticizing Elon Musk’s social media conduct as perpetually distracting and embarrassing. As per the filing, SpaceX’s firing of these employees was an unfair labor practice, as they were engaging in “protected concerted activity at work.”

Additionally, the company is accused of interrogating at least one worker regarding the letter, their colleagues’ identities, and their collective protected activities.

The complaint further alleges that SpaceX cultivated an atmosphere of surveillance, citing evidence of an employee’s screenshots from a Signal group chat. The letter, pivotal to this case, called out Musk’s damaging Twitter behavior prior to his acquisition of a platform now called X. The employees expressed their concerns over Musk’s crude X posts relating to sexual misconduct allegations against him, which SpaceX reportedly settled for $250,000. Their letter requested that the company take responsibility for leadership actions and denounce negative behavior.

These employees disseminated the letter company-wide in the middle of 2022. Reportedly, within hours of the letter’s distribution, SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell reprimanded the authors and instructed them to cease congesting employee communication channels. Reports say five of these employees were dismissed the following day, and another four over the ensuing months. Only one employee refrained from filing an unfair labor practice complaint.

Paige Holland-Thielen, among those dismissed, remarked to The Times, “At SpaceX the rockets may be reusable, but the people who build them are treated as expendable… I am hopeful these charges will hold SpaceX and its leadership accountable for their long history of mistreating workers and stifling discourse.”

An administrative judge is scheduled to hear the case on March 5, subject to any pre-hearing settlement. Should the NLRB find that SpaceX has breached labour laws, it has the authority to mandate the reinstatement of workers with corresponding backpay. However, SpaceX has the right to challenge such a decision before the NLRB and subsequently within the federal court, potentially prolonging the process for the affected employees.

Musk’s other companies have also had previous run-ins with the NLRB, including allegations against X for illegally dismissing a worker, and Tesla facing several complaints, one of which was for illicitly terminating employees to suppress union activism.