Fired SpaceX workers sue Elon Musk for sexual harassment and retaliation

Eight former SpaceX engineers filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk on Wednesday alleging sexual harassment and retaliation.

Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, “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,” says the employees’ complaint, which was earlier reported by Bloomberg.

The complaint — which cites many of Musk’s Twitter posts making sexually explicit jokes — claims that Musk fostered “a perversely sexist culture at SpaceX.” Several of the plaintiffs say they “experienced direct harassment that mimicked Musk’s posts.” According to the suit, senior engineers often used phallic language during technical meetings, referring to mechanical parts as “chodes” and “schlongs.”

“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.” The complaint also cites a video “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, who are also pursuing a National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX, collaborated on an open letter in 2022 that raised concerns about Musk’s behavior and the broader company culture at SpaceX. The employees were subsequently fired — and their lawsuit alleges the order to terminate them came from Musk himself. Per Bloomberg, after a human resources official suggested SpaceX conduct an investigation, Musk replied, “I don’t care, fire them.”

After the letter was published, Shotwell emailed two of the letter writers telling them to “stop flooding employees [sic] communications channels immediately,” the complaint claims. Shotwell later sent a companywide email “with the subject line ‘Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission,’ in which she called the Open Letter ‘overreaching activism’ and stated that ‘[w]e performed an investigation and have terminated a number of employees involved,’” according to the suit.

The complaint targets both Musk and SpaceX. “Musk thinks he’s above the law. Our eight brave clients stood up to him and were fired for doing so. We look forward to holding Musk accountable for his actions at trial,” Laurie Burgess, an attorney representing the former engineers, said in a statement.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that Musk had sexual relationships with two SpaceX employees, including a former intern he later hired onto his executive team. A third woman who spoke to the Journal said Musk asked her several times to have his children and complained about her work performance after she said no. The woman said she was also denied a raise. 

Shotwell accused one of the women of having an affair with her husband, according to the Journal. After the woman reported this to HR, Shotwell reportedly “told the HR department at SpaceX that she wanted the woman removed from the office of the chief executive,” the Journal’s article says. In a statement to the Journal, Shotwell said the report paints “a completely misleading narrative” of SpaceX’s company culture.

Some former SpaceX employees disagree. In 2021, after a former SpaceX employee published an essay detailing multiple instances in which she was groped by her male colleagues, five former employees claimed there was a culture of sexual harassment at the company. The employees said HR handled complaints poorly. In 2022, Business Insider reported that a flight attendant on Musk’s private jet claimed he exposed himself to her.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.