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SpaceX, the space flight company owned by Elon Musk, illegally fired eight employees after they criticized Musks social media behavior, a new complaint from the National Labor Relations Board alleges.

The complaint stems from a June 2022 open letter that was shared on the companys internal chat system in which the fired employees called on SpaceX to swiftly and explicitly separate itself from its owner because of Musks increasingly erratic and inflammatory social media posts. The letter also claimed that SpaceX had failed to uphold its zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy, as well as its No Asshole policy. Now, after a yearlong investigation, the NLRB has found evidence of at least 37labor violations.

Elons behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, the letter stated, according to a report by The Verge. As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceXevery Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company.

Nine employees were terminated shortly after the letters release. (The NLRBs complaint involves eight of them.) According to reports from the Associated Press,five employees were fired one day after the letter was sent, while the remaining four were terminated weeks later.

The new NLRB complaint adds to the growing labor complaints surrounding Muskss companies. In February 2022, Tesla employees filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Tesla, with one Black employee claiming to hear racial slurs at least 50 to 100 times a day. As my former colleague, Edwin Rios wrote:

They heard racial slurs from their fellow workers and supervisors. They saw racist graffiti on the walls. They spoke up but their voices were unheard. The factory in Fremont, California, where they worked, was nicknamed the plantation. This was the life of a Black worker at Teslas main factory in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to a new civil rights lawsuit filed by Californias Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Then in September 2023, X failed to pay more than 6,000 employees severance, resulting in more than 2,000 arbitration cases against the social media platform. SpaceX reportedly has until Jan. 17 to file a formal answer. The case will proceed to trial in March 2024.

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Federal Agency Accuses SpaceX of Illegally Firing Employees for Criticizing Elon Musk Mother Jones - Mother Jones