Eight employees who were fired from SpaceX are suing the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, arguing they were illegally fired after sharing complaints about work culture.
The former employees filed the lawsuit in a California state court.
In a 2022 letter to management, they detailed their complaints where they said sexual harassment was rampant and there was a hostile “Animal House”-style work environment, The Associated Press reported.
The day after they penned the letter, four employees were fired, and others allege they were terminated after an internal investigation.
The letter called on executives to condemn Musk’s online behavior on social media platform X, then known as Twitter, which he also owns.
They argue Musk made light of the sexual harassment allegations against him since he is “seen as the face of SpaceX.”
The employees are seeking an unspecified number of monetary damages, per the AP.
The lawsuit also argues that the tech billionaire wants to be “the leader to a brave new world of space travel, but runs his company in the dark ages,” CNN reported.
The former employees noted in their complaint that the workplace is bombarded with lewd sexual behavior where women are treated as sexual objects to be evaluated based on their bra size. They added that they were told that those “who don’t like it could seek employment elsewhere,” per the news outlet.
The eight employees who authored the letter were able to get at least 400 others to sign it, asking SpaceX management to take their concerns about Musk and his online persona seriously.
The company also faced similar complaints from the National Labor Relations Board over the employees’ termination in January.
The Hill has reached out to SpaceX for comment.
