Last Wednesday, eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, accusing him of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, has been accused of intentionally introducing vulgar sexual images, memes and disparaging comments towards women and the LGBTQ+ community into the workplace. The complaint, initially reported by Bloomberg, raises serious concerns about SpaceX’s corporate culture. The complaint alleges that Musk fostered a sexist corporate culture within SpaceX. Some plaintiffs said they experienced direct harassment that mirrored Musk’s explicit and offensive posts on Twitter. Senior engineers allegedly used foul language during technical meetings, calling mechanical parts vulgar terms.
The complaint describes how engineers used to assign vulgar and degrading names to products, to the detriment of women and LGBTQ+ people. One example cited is the use of the name “Upskirt Camera” for a camera on the first stage of the Falcon rocket, which filmed the underside of the second stage. Also mentioned is a video featuring SpaceX executives, including Vice President of Human Resources Brian Bjelde, President and CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and Elon Musk, who joked about sexual harassment. The former employees, who also filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against SpaceX, collaborated in 2022 on an open letter expressing concerns about Musk’s behavior and company culture. After the letter was published, the employees were fired, and the complaint alleges that the firing order came directly from Musk. According to Bloomberg, when a human resources manager suggested an internal investigation, Musk responded: “I don’t care, fire them.”
After the letter was published, Shotwell sent an email to two of the letter’s authors asking them to “immediately stop clogging employee communications channels.” Shotwell later sent a corporate email with the subject line “Please focus on SpaceX’s mission,” calling the open letter an act of “over-the-top activism.” The lawsuit follows shortly a Wall Street Journal report that Musk had sexual relationships with two SpaceX employees, including a former intern who was later hired onto his executive team. A third woman told the Journal that Musk repeatedly asked her to have children with him and criticized her work performance after she refused. The woman also said she was deprived of a pay raise. Shotwell was also accused of claiming that one of the women was having an affair with her husband. After the woman reported the incident to human resources, Shotwell allegedly asked for her removal. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Shotwell called the report a “completely misleading narrative” of SpaceX’s corporate culture.
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