- Per the complaint, reported by Bloomberg, the workers were fired by the SpaceX in 2022 after a letter circulated through SpaceX that was critical of Musk
- They claim They were subjected to inappropriate behavior and sexual jokes
A group of seven former employees at Elon Musk’s SpaceX say the rocket and satellite company discriminated against women while joking about sexual harassment and even firing those who complained, a new civil rights complaint alleges.
According to the complaint, first reported by Bloomberg, the workers were fired by the company in 2022 after letter a circulated through SpaceX that was critical of Musk.
The workers claim that in their time at the company they were subjected to inappropriate behavior and sexual jokes by managers, who would often quote Musk.
‘Basically anything that would make a freshman frat initiate laugh was fair game in large parts of the company,’ said one of the fired employees, Tom Moline.
The group say that SpaceX violated California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, which protects workers who are critical of their management.
The California Civil Rights Department first made contact with SpaceX about the allegations in January
SpaceX logo is displayed on a building on May 26, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral
Paige Holland-Thielen (above) is among the complainants who say that she was regularly discriminated against at SpaceX because of her gender
The California Civil Rights Department first made contact with SpaceX about the allegations in January.
In October, SpaceX was sued by a female former employee who claimed the company pays and promotes women and minorities less than white men.
Engineer Paige Holland-Thielen who is among the complainants, told Bloomberg that from the moment she was hired by SpaceX in 2018 she felt discriminated against as she was considered a ‘level 1’ employee despite having more experience than men who were given senior roles.
When she complained that a male colleague took credit for her work, Holland-Thielen said that she was subjected to a performance review in which she was advised that she was ‘too emotional’ and told to be ‘more humble.’
She claims on one occasion she tried complaining to a manager about a colleague’s inappropriate behavior but the manager made a sexual joke when they saw downward-pointing data on her computer and allegedly said, ‘How can we get it, up, up, up?’
In October, former SpaceX engineer Ashley Foltz filed a proposed class action in California state last year, saying the company paid her $92,000 per year while men with similar duties and qualifications were paid up to $115,000.
California law prohibits employers from paying workers less than colleagues who perform ‘substantially similar work’ based on their sex, race or ethnicity.
Foltz said she discovered the discrepancy when SpaceX posted job openings for engineering positions with a salary range of $95,000 to $115,000.
A California pay transparency law took effect this year requiring employers to post salary ranges in job postings.
