In the lawsuit, it was mentioned that Musk “knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work environment based upon his conduct of interjecting into the workplace vile sexual photographs, memes, and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community,” Bloomberg reported.
Elon Musk is the CEO and founder of SpaceX, Tesla, and other companies. The lawsuit brought together eight of its former engineers who were fired in 2022. The lawsuit also alleges that “the leader to a brave new world of space travel, but runs his company in the dark ages — treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated on their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter, and offering the reprise to those who challenge the ‘Animal House’ environment that if they don’t like it, they can seek employment elsewhere”.
Even more so, those eight former employees were fired after an open letter was written in 2022. The open letter criticized the workspace that the company has allegedly created, asking for a more inclusive workplace environment. At that time, the open letter was signed by more than 400 employees, asking for a more inclusive work culture.
SpaceX responded that they would enforce SpaceX's “zero tolerance” policy, as COO Gwynne Shotwell mentioned. However, eight employees were fired in response to the open letter. Similar complaints were filed by the National Labor Relations Board when the employees' contracts were terminated, the complaints mentioning that the employees were fired for “concerted protected activities.”.
The lawsuit filed against the company also alleges, “It was also common for engineers to apply crude and demeaning names to products in an attempt at humor, often at the expense of women and LGBTQ+ individuals. For example, the name ‘Upskirt Camera’ was used for a camera on the first stage of the Falcon rocket that views the bottom of the second stage.”
Also complaining about a video where “starring SpaceX’s upper management, including Vice President of Human Resources (HR) Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and Elon Musk that mocks and makes light of sexual misconduct and banter.”
The former employees are also seeking monetary damages for the situations that they have been put into, complaining about emotional distress and “lost wages, earnings, and other employee benefits.”
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