POST-MODERN ROBBER BARON
Eight SpaceX employees say they were fired for speaking up against Elon Musk
Thu, November 17, 2022
By Akash Sriram and Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -Eight former employees of SpaceX have filed unfair labor practice charges with a U.S. labor board against the rocket maker, alleging they were let go for speaking up against founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk.
The employees said on Thursday they were fired for being part of a group that had drafted and circulated a letter to SpaceX executives in June criticizing Musk, the world's richest person, and urging executives to make the firm's culture more inclusive.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reported in June that SpaceX fired at least five employees who were involved in drafting the letter, which called Musk a "distraction and embarrassment" to the company.
The charges filed on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board allege that SpaceX fired five employees the day after the letter was revealed, and four others in the two months after.
While two of the employees filed charges on their own, attorneys filed charges on behalf of six others who are proceeding anonymously.
U.S. labor law prohibits employers from firing workers who band together to advocate for better working conditions. When the NLRB finds that firings violated the law, it can order that workers be reinstated and given back pay.
Musk, also the head of electric-car maker Tesla Inc, has been in the headlines over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and attempts to remake the social media company after he warned of a potential bankruptcy.
Musk also has been on trial this week over a shareholder challenge to his $56 billion Tesla compensation package.
The letter sent to SpaceX executives in June focused on a series of tweets Musk had made since 2020, many of which were sexually suggestive.
The employees claimed Musk's conduct did not align with the company's policies on diversity and workplace misconduct. They called on SpaceX to publicly condemn Musk's comments and to more clearly define the type of conduct prohibited by company policy.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
By Akash Sriram and Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -Eight former employees of SpaceX have filed unfair labor practice charges with a U.S. labor board against the rocket maker, alleging they were let go for speaking up against founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk.
The employees said on Thursday they were fired for being part of a group that had drafted and circulated a letter to SpaceX executives in June criticizing Musk, the world's richest person, and urging executives to make the firm's culture more inclusive.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reported in June that SpaceX fired at least five employees who were involved in drafting the letter, which called Musk a "distraction and embarrassment" to the company.
The charges filed on Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board allege that SpaceX fired five employees the day after the letter was revealed, and four others in the two months after.
While two of the employees filed charges on their own, attorneys filed charges on behalf of six others who are proceeding anonymously.
U.S. labor law prohibits employers from firing workers who band together to advocate for better working conditions. When the NLRB finds that firings violated the law, it can order that workers be reinstated and given back pay.
Musk, also the head of electric-car maker Tesla Inc, has been in the headlines over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and attempts to remake the social media company after he warned of a potential bankruptcy.
Musk also has been on trial this week over a shareholder challenge to his $56 billion Tesla compensation package.
The letter sent to SpaceX executives in June focused on a series of tweets Musk had made since 2020, many of which were sexually suggestive.
The employees claimed Musk's conduct did not align with the company's policies on diversity and workplace misconduct. They called on SpaceX to publicly condemn Musk's comments and to more clearly define the type of conduct prohibited by company policy.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
The SpaceX logo is displayed on a building, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Several SpaceX employees who were fired after circulating an open letter calling out CEO Elon Musk’s behavior have filed a complaint accusing the company of violating labor laws. The complaint, made Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, to the National Labor Relations Board, says five employees who participated in organizing the June letter were fired a day after the letter was sent to company executives.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
HALELUYA HADERO and STEPHEN GROVES
Thu, November 17, 2022
NEW YORK (AP) — Several SpaceX employees who were fired after circulating an open letter calling out CEO Elon Musk’s behavior have filed a complaint accusing the company of violating labor laws.
The complaint, made Wednesday to the National Labor Relations Board, details the aftermath of what allegedly happened inside SpaceX after employees circulated the letter in June, which, among other things, called on executives to condemn Musk’s public behavior on Twitter — including making light of allegations he sexually harassed a flight attendant — and hold everyone accountable for unacceptable conduct.
The letter was sent weeks after a media report surfaced that Musk paid $250,000 to the flight attendant to quash a potential sexual harassment lawsuit against him. The billionaire has denied the allegations.
Employees in their letter urged SpaceX to uniformly enforce its policy against unacceptable behavior and commit to a transparent process for responses to claims of misconduct. A day later, Paige Holland-Thielen and four other employees who participated in organizing the letter were fired, according to the filing, which was made by Holland-Thielen to a regional NLRB office in California. Four additional employees were fired weeks later for their involvement in the letter.
A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and is currently running Twitter, prefers to do things his own way even if that means running afoul of rules and regulations. He's currently in a defiant fight with Civil Rights department, a California regulator that is suing Tesla for rampant racial discrimination.
Some view Musk's management style as autocratic and demanding, as evidenced by a recent email he sent to Twitter staff giving them until Thursday evening to decide whether they want to remain a part of the business. Musk wrote that employees “will need to be extremely hardcore” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0″ and that long hours at high intensity will be needed for success.
A number of engineers also said on Twitter they were fired last week after saying something critical of Musk, either publicly on Twitter or on an internal messaging board for Twitter employees.
In a statement, Holland-Thielen said as a woman engineer at SpaceX, she experienced “deep cultural problems” and comforted colleagues who had experienced similar issues.
“It was clear that this culture was created from the top level,” she said.
Still, she said part of what she liked about the company was that any person could escalate issues to leadership and be taken seriously.
“We drafted the letter to communicate to the executive staff on their terms and show how their lack of action created tangible barriers to the long term success of the mission,” Holland-Thielen said. “We never imagined that SpaceX would fire us for trying to help the company succeed.”
The firings coincide with Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter. Around the same time, the billionaire used a sexual term to make fun of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ belly and also posted a poop emoji during an online discussion with then-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
After terminating the first set of employees, SpaceX allegedly interrogated dozens of others over the next two months in private meetings, telling them they couldn’t disclose those conversations to anyone else due to attorney-client privilege, according to the complaint. Four additional employees who helped draft or share the letter were fired in July and August, the filing said, adding up to nine terminations in total.
“Management used this ‘ends justifies the means’ philosophy to turn a blind eye to the ongoing mistreatment, harassment, and abuse reported by my colleagues, much of which was directly encouraged and inspired by the words and actions of the CEO,” said Tom Moline, who was also fired from SpaceX after organizing the letter.
Jeffery Pfeffer, a professor who specializes in organizational behavior at Stanford University’s business school, said that the allegations were hardly a surprise given Musk’s leadership style at Twitter. Musk’s success at companies like Tesla and SpaceX have created what he labeled as hubris under the false notion that it was “all about individual genius.”
“Powerful people get to break the rules. They don’t think they are bound by the same conventions as other people,” Pfeffer said, criticizing Musk’s behavior. He said it showed the arrogance of Musk, one of the world’s richest men: “Why would he think he is a mere mortal?"
___
Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota
HALELUYA HADERO and STEPHEN GROVES
Thu, November 17, 2022
NEW YORK (AP) — Several SpaceX employees who were fired after circulating an open letter calling out CEO Elon Musk’s behavior have filed a complaint accusing the company of violating labor laws.
The complaint, made Wednesday to the National Labor Relations Board, details the aftermath of what allegedly happened inside SpaceX after employees circulated the letter in June, which, among other things, called on executives to condemn Musk’s public behavior on Twitter — including making light of allegations he sexually harassed a flight attendant — and hold everyone accountable for unacceptable conduct.
The letter was sent weeks after a media report surfaced that Musk paid $250,000 to the flight attendant to quash a potential sexual harassment lawsuit against him. The billionaire has denied the allegations.
Employees in their letter urged SpaceX to uniformly enforce its policy against unacceptable behavior and commit to a transparent process for responses to claims of misconduct. A day later, Paige Holland-Thielen and four other employees who participated in organizing the letter were fired, according to the filing, which was made by Holland-Thielen to a regional NLRB office in California. Four additional employees were fired weeks later for their involvement in the letter.
A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and is currently running Twitter, prefers to do things his own way even if that means running afoul of rules and regulations. He's currently in a defiant fight with Civil Rights department, a California regulator that is suing Tesla for rampant racial discrimination.
Some view Musk's management style as autocratic and demanding, as evidenced by a recent email he sent to Twitter staff giving them until Thursday evening to decide whether they want to remain a part of the business. Musk wrote that employees “will need to be extremely hardcore” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0″ and that long hours at high intensity will be needed for success.
A number of engineers also said on Twitter they were fired last week after saying something critical of Musk, either publicly on Twitter or on an internal messaging board for Twitter employees.
In a statement, Holland-Thielen said as a woman engineer at SpaceX, she experienced “deep cultural problems” and comforted colleagues who had experienced similar issues.
“It was clear that this culture was created from the top level,” she said.
Still, she said part of what she liked about the company was that any person could escalate issues to leadership and be taken seriously.
“We drafted the letter to communicate to the executive staff on their terms and show how their lack of action created tangible barriers to the long term success of the mission,” Holland-Thielen said. “We never imagined that SpaceX would fire us for trying to help the company succeed.”
The firings coincide with Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter. Around the same time, the billionaire used a sexual term to make fun of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ belly and also posted a poop emoji during an online discussion with then-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
After terminating the first set of employees, SpaceX allegedly interrogated dozens of others over the next two months in private meetings, telling them they couldn’t disclose those conversations to anyone else due to attorney-client privilege, according to the complaint. Four additional employees who helped draft or share the letter were fired in July and August, the filing said, adding up to nine terminations in total.
“Management used this ‘ends justifies the means’ philosophy to turn a blind eye to the ongoing mistreatment, harassment, and abuse reported by my colleagues, much of which was directly encouraged and inspired by the words and actions of the CEO,” said Tom Moline, who was also fired from SpaceX after organizing the letter.
Jeffery Pfeffer, a professor who specializes in organizational behavior at Stanford University’s business school, said that the allegations were hardly a surprise given Musk’s leadership style at Twitter. Musk’s success at companies like Tesla and SpaceX have created what he labeled as hubris under the false notion that it was “all about individual genius.”
“Powerful people get to break the rules. They don’t think they are bound by the same conventions as other people,” Pfeffer said, criticizing Musk’s behavior. He said it showed the arrogance of Musk, one of the world’s richest men: “Why would he think he is a mere mortal?"
___
Groves reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota
SpaceX faces labor charges after firing employees who criticized Elon Musk
Employees wrote letter calling Musk a "source of distraction and embarrassment."
JON BRODKIN - 11/17/2022,
Eight former SpaceX employees who were fired after circulating an internal letter criticizing Elon Musk have filed charges claiming they were unlawfully fired. Unfair labor practice charges for the "retaliatory firings" were filed yesterday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the former employees' law firm said in a press release.
"The charges allege that SpaceX violated the National Labor Relations Act by terminating the employees for engaging in protected concerted activity," the Lieff Cabraser law firm said. "Specifically, the employees were fired for being part of a larger group that drafted a letter to SpaceX's executive team expressing concern about recent allegations of sexual harassment by CEO Elon Musk, and his harmful behavior on Twitter that hurt the company's reputation and also the company culture."
The letter urged "SpaceX to take appropriate remedial action, including condemning Musk's harmful Twitter behavior, holding leadership accountable, and seeking uniform definition and enforcement of SpaceX's 'No Asshole' policy. The letter was shared internally within SpaceX only, and called for other employees to sign on to endorse the recommendations," the press release said.
We wrote about the firings in June. At the time, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in an email to staff that the "letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views."
Culture problems “created from the top level”
The employees' letter said SpaceX executives should "publicly address and condemn Elon's harmful Twitter behavior" and that the company "must swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon's personal brand." The letter called out "recent allegations against our CEO and his public disparagement of the situation," in reference to a report that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Musk in 2018. Musk denied the claim, and Shotwell wrote in an email to staff that "I believe the allegations to be false."Advertisement
The employees' letter also said that "Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks." The letter accused the company of not applying its policies equally to executives and employees, writing that "SpaceX must establish safe avenues for reporting and uphold clear repercussions for all unacceptable behavior, whether from the CEO or an employee starting their first day."
The charges filed with the NLRB "allege that SpaceX fired five employees the day after the letter came out, and four more over the course of the following two months," the law firm said. The complaints cover eight of the nine employees. "Two employees—Tom Moline and Paige Holland-Thielen—filed charges on their own behalf. Attorneys Anne Shaver and Laurie Burgess filed charges on behalf of six other employees who are proceeding anonymously," the press release said.
Holland-Thielen issued this statement:
Moline said SpaceX management used an "'ends justifies the means' philosophy to turn a blind eye to the ongoing mistreatment, harassment, and abuse reported by my colleagues, much of which was directly encouraged and inspired by the words and actions of the CEO. We drafted the open letter to bring these issues to the forefront and start the hard work of building a culture that was worthy of these lofty goals."
“SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX”
The New York Times reported today that after the firings, about 20 engineers were invited to a meeting at SpaceX headquarters to discuss Musk. Two SpaceX employees who attended described what happened:
They said Jon Edwards, the vice president leading the meeting, characterized the letter as an extremist act and declared that the writers had been fired for distracting the company and taking on Mr. Musk. When asked whether the chief executive could sexually harass his workers with impunity, Mr. Edwards did not appear to answer, the two employees said. But they said the meeting had a recurring theme—that Mr. Musk could do whatever he wanted at the company.
"SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX," the two recalled hearing Mr. Edwards declare.
Former NLRB Chairwoman Wilma Liebman, who served on the NLRB for over 23 years and was the chair from 2009 to 2011, reportedly said the labor board is likely to side with the fired workers. Liebman "said a letter seeking clarification of a company's sexual harassment policies was generally protected by federal labor law," the NYT wrote. "She said the company could argue that the letter's writers sought to criticize Mr. Musk, activity that isn't necessarily protected, rather than to improve their workplace. But she said the labor board would probably disagree because the posts from Mr. Musk that employees criticized could be seen as creating a hostile work environment."
Lieff Cabraser attorney Anne Shaver contended in the firm's announcement that "SpaceX committed egregious violations of the law in its handling of the open letter. It had an extraordinary opportunity to engage with dedicated employees who cared enough about the company to speak up about harassment and discrimination. Instead, it viciously retaliated against them."
At Twitter, Musk’s layoffs trigger another lawsuit
Meanwhile, Musk has fired Twitter engineers for correcting and criticizing him on Twitter and Slack. Musk also conducted massive layoffs at Twitter, cutting about half of the company's 7,500 employees. A class-action lawsuit alleged the Musk-led company violated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws, which require 60 days' advance written notice before a mass layoff.
A second round of Twitter layoffs targeted about 5,000 contractors. That led to another class-action lawsuit filed yesterday, alleging similar violations of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws and failure to pay all wages and benefits immediately upon termination. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan is representing the former employees and contractors in both lawsuits.
Musk's electric car company, Tesla, is facing a similar lawsuit alleging that its layoffs violated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws. Separately, the NLRB ruled in August that Tesla violated US labor law by implicitly banning employees from wearing shirts with union insignias.
Employees wrote letter calling Musk a "source of distraction and embarrassment."
JON BRODKIN - 11/17/2022,
Eight former SpaceX employees who were fired after circulating an internal letter criticizing Elon Musk have filed charges claiming they were unlawfully fired. Unfair labor practice charges for the "retaliatory firings" were filed yesterday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the former employees' law firm said in a press release.
"The charges allege that SpaceX violated the National Labor Relations Act by terminating the employees for engaging in protected concerted activity," the Lieff Cabraser law firm said. "Specifically, the employees were fired for being part of a larger group that drafted a letter to SpaceX's executive team expressing concern about recent allegations of sexual harassment by CEO Elon Musk, and his harmful behavior on Twitter that hurt the company's reputation and also the company culture."
The letter urged "SpaceX to take appropriate remedial action, including condemning Musk's harmful Twitter behavior, holding leadership accountable, and seeking uniform definition and enforcement of SpaceX's 'No Asshole' policy. The letter was shared internally within SpaceX only, and called for other employees to sign on to endorse the recommendations," the press release said.
We wrote about the firings in June. At the time, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in an email to staff that the "letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views."
Culture problems “created from the top level”
The employees' letter said SpaceX executives should "publicly address and condemn Elon's harmful Twitter behavior" and that the company "must swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon's personal brand." The letter called out "recent allegations against our CEO and his public disparagement of the situation," in reference to a report that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Musk in 2018. Musk denied the claim, and Shotwell wrote in an email to staff that "I believe the allegations to be false."Advertisement
The employees' letter also said that "Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks." The letter accused the company of not applying its policies equally to executives and employees, writing that "SpaceX must establish safe avenues for reporting and uphold clear repercussions for all unacceptable behavior, whether from the CEO or an employee starting their first day."
The charges filed with the NLRB "allege that SpaceX fired five employees the day after the letter came out, and four more over the course of the following two months," the law firm said. The complaints cover eight of the nine employees. "Two employees—Tom Moline and Paige Holland-Thielen—filed charges on their own behalf. Attorneys Anne Shaver and Laurie Burgess filed charges on behalf of six other employees who are proceeding anonymously," the press release said.
Holland-Thielen issued this statement:
As a woman engineer at SpaceX I experienced the deep cultural problems firsthand and spent countless hours comforting my peers and colleagues going through the same things and worse. It was clear that this culture was created from the top level. Part of what was supposed to be so great about SpaceX was that any person at any level could escalate issues to leadership and be taken seriously and treated with respect. We drafted the letter to communicate to the executive staff on their terms and show how their lack of action created tangible barriers to the long term success of the mission. We never imagined that SpaceX would fire us for trying to help the company succeed.
Moline said SpaceX management used an "'ends justifies the means' philosophy to turn a blind eye to the ongoing mistreatment, harassment, and abuse reported by my colleagues, much of which was directly encouraged and inspired by the words and actions of the CEO. We drafted the open letter to bring these issues to the forefront and start the hard work of building a culture that was worthy of these lofty goals."
“SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX”
The New York Times reported today that after the firings, about 20 engineers were invited to a meeting at SpaceX headquarters to discuss Musk. Two SpaceX employees who attended described what happened:
They said Jon Edwards, the vice president leading the meeting, characterized the letter as an extremist act and declared that the writers had been fired for distracting the company and taking on Mr. Musk. When asked whether the chief executive could sexually harass his workers with impunity, Mr. Edwards did not appear to answer, the two employees said. But they said the meeting had a recurring theme—that Mr. Musk could do whatever he wanted at the company.
"SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX," the two recalled hearing Mr. Edwards declare.
Former NLRB Chairwoman Wilma Liebman, who served on the NLRB for over 23 years and was the chair from 2009 to 2011, reportedly said the labor board is likely to side with the fired workers. Liebman "said a letter seeking clarification of a company's sexual harassment policies was generally protected by federal labor law," the NYT wrote. "She said the company could argue that the letter's writers sought to criticize Mr. Musk, activity that isn't necessarily protected, rather than to improve their workplace. But she said the labor board would probably disagree because the posts from Mr. Musk that employees criticized could be seen as creating a hostile work environment."
Lieff Cabraser attorney Anne Shaver contended in the firm's announcement that "SpaceX committed egregious violations of the law in its handling of the open letter. It had an extraordinary opportunity to engage with dedicated employees who cared enough about the company to speak up about harassment and discrimination. Instead, it viciously retaliated against them."
At Twitter, Musk’s layoffs trigger another lawsuit
Meanwhile, Musk has fired Twitter engineers for correcting and criticizing him on Twitter and Slack. Musk also conducted massive layoffs at Twitter, cutting about half of the company's 7,500 employees. A class-action lawsuit alleged the Musk-led company violated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws, which require 60 days' advance written notice before a mass layoff.
A second round of Twitter layoffs targeted about 5,000 contractors. That led to another class-action lawsuit filed yesterday, alleging similar violations of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws and failure to pay all wages and benefits immediately upon termination. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan is representing the former employees and contractors in both lawsuits.
Musk's electric car company, Tesla, is facing a similar lawsuit alleging that its layoffs violated Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification laws. Separately, the NLRB ruled in August that Tesla violated US labor law by implicitly banning employees from wearing shirts with union insignias.
No comments:
Post a Comment