Eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Wednesday alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.
Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, “knowingly and intentionally created an unwelcome hostile work environment based on his workplace intrusion behavior of sexually explicit photos, memes, and comments demeaning women and/or the LGBTQ+ community “, say the employees. complaint, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg.
The complaint — which cites many of Musk’s tweets making sexually explicit jokes — alleges that Musk fostered “a perverse sexist culture at SpaceX.” Some of the plaintiffs say they “experienced direct harassment that mimicked Musk’s posts.” According to the lawsuit, senior engineers often used phallic language during technical meetings, referring to mechanical parts as “chodes” and “schlongs.”
Engineers allegedly used sex jokes as product names
“It was also common for engineers to apply crude and derogatory names to products in an attempt at humor, often at the expense of women and LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, the name ‘Camera Up’ was used for a camera on the first stage of the Falcon rocket that looks at the underside of the second stage. The complaint also cites a video “starring SpaceX senior management, including Vice President of Human Resources (HR) Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell and Elon Musk mocking and dismissing sexual misconduct and jokes.
The former employees, who are also pursuing a National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX, collaborated on an open letter in 2022 that raised concerns about Musk’s behavior and the broader company culture at SpaceX. The employees were subsequently fired — and their lawsuit alleges that the order to terminate them came from Musk himself. for Bloombergafter an HR official suggested SpaceX conduct an investigation, Musk responded, “I don’t care, fire them.”
After the letter was published, Shotwell emailed two of the letter writers telling them to “stop the flood of employees [sic] communication channels immediately,” the complaint states. Shotwell later sent a company-wide email “with the subject line ‘Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission,'” in which she called the Open Letter “excessive activism” and stated that “[w]conducted an investigation and terminated a number of employees involved’, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint targets both Musk and SpaceX. “Musk thinks he is above the law. Eight of our brave customers stood up and were fired for it. We look forward to holding Musk accountable for his actions in court,” Laurie Burgess, an attorney representing the former engineers, said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes at the end of a Wall Street Journal report that Musk had sexual relations with two SpaceX employees, including a former intern he later hired on his executive team. A third woman he spoke to diary said Musk asked her several times to have his children and complained about her performance at work after she said no. The woman said she was also denied a raise.
Shotwell accused one of the women of having an affair with her husband, according to The diary. After the woman reported this to HR, Shotwell reportedly “told the HR department at SpaceX that he wanted the woman removed from the CEO’s office.” diarythe article says. In a statement to diaryShotwell said the report paints “a completely misleading narrative” of SpaceX’s company culture.
Some former SpaceX employees disagree. In 2021, after a former SpaceX employee published an essay detailing multiple instances in which she was groped by her male colleagues, five former employees alleged a culture of sexual harassment at the company. Employees said HR handled complaints poorly. In 2022, Business Insider reported that a flight attendant on Musk’s private jet claimed he exposed himself to her.
SpaceX did not immediately respond thresholdRequest for comment.