On Wednesday, June 12, SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk were sued by eight engineers who allege they were illegally fired for voicing concerns about sexual harassment and discrimination against women.
The engineers—comprising four women and four men—claim that Musk ordered their termination in 2022 after they circulated a letter criticizing him as a “distraction and embarrassment” and urging executives to repudiate his sexually charged social media comments. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles state court.
The plaintiffs cited a series of tweets by Musk, including one from 2022 in which he told the former CEO of YouTube, “if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse.”
The lawsuit asserts that Musk’s behavior created a “pervasively sexist culture” at SpaceX, where female engineers regularly faced harassment and sexist remarks, and their complaints about workplace culture were ignored. According to the lawsuit, senior engineers used euphemisms for sexual acts and male genitals to describe rocket components.
“These actions … had the foreseeable and actual result of offending, causing distress, and intruding upon Plaintiffs’ well-being so as to disrupt their emotional tranquillity in the workplace,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit. The company has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the 2022 letter was disruptive and that the engineers were properly terminated for violating company policies. SpaceX also stated that Elon Musk was not involved in the decision to fire the engineers.
One of the plaintiffs, Paige Holland-Thielen, issued a statement through her lawyers, expressing that the lawsuit aims to hold SpaceX leadership accountable and to inspire changes in workplace policies. “We hope that this lawsuit encourages our colleagues to stay strong and to keep fighting for a better workplace,” she said.
The eight engineers are also involved in a case with the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming that their firings violated their rights under US labor law to advocate for better working conditions. In response, SpaceX has filed a lawsuit arguing that the labor board’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate the US Constitution.
A US appeals court recently paused the NLRB case while it reviews SpaceX’s attempt to block it.
Wednesday’s lawsuit accuses SpaceX and Musk of retaliation and wrongful termination in violation of California law, and also charges the company with sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, along with an order to prevent SpaceX from continuing its alleged unlawful conduct.
