SpaceX was accused by the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday of unlawfully terminating eight employees for a 2022 letter condemning Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s conduct on X, formerly Twitter, as a “distraction and embarrassment” that deserved “clear repercussions.” Musk’s posts involved denying and joking about allegations from a SpaceX worker that the billionaire exposed himself and sexually propositioned her. In an email obtained by Bloomberg, a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board claimed the company illegally questioned, surveilled, and punished the workers, who, according to their lawyers, criticized Musk’s “inappropriate, disparaging, [and] sexually charged comments.” The NLRB said SpaceX committed further wrongdoing by banning other employees from distributing the open letter and threatening firings if they carried out any collective action. The agency can command companies to rehire fired workers and offer back pay but can’t penalize executives. “At SpaceX the rockets may be reusable but the people who build them are treated as expendable,” Paige Holland-Thielen, one of the workers in the dispute, wrote in an email. “I am hopeful these charges will hold SpaceX and its leadership accountable for their long history of mistreating workers and stifling discourse.” SpaceX did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment, and The New York Times reported that the case is set to be presented to a judge in March unless SpaceX agrees to a settlement beforehand.
