SpaceX Sues To Stop US Hearing Over Fired Workers

Based on a copy of the case filed in a federal court in Texas, SpaceX claimed that the regulatory board’s structure is unconstitutional and that the hearing procedure violates the company’s right to a jury trial.

This composite image, which was made on October 10, 2023, features (L) Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Twitter, and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, during his June 16, 2023, visit to the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris; and (R) a screen in Paris on July 24, 2023, featuring the newly rebranded Twitter logo, X. (Image courtesy of Alain JOCARD/AFP)

On Thursday, SpaceX filed a lawsuit in an attempt to scuttle a US National Labor Relations Board hearing over allegations from employees that they were let go for speaking out against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.

A copy of the complaint that SpaceX filed in a federal court in Texas states that the company claimed the regulatory board’s structure is unconstitutional and that the hearing procedure infringes upon its right to a jury trial.

The document did not dispute the claims made by the former employees whose complaints are in question in the case that they were let go for requesting signatures from coworkers on a letter that criticized Musk’s actions on social media.

According to the complaint, “The Open Letter demanded that SpaceX take certain actions addressing perceived shortcomings” and included a link to a survey.

The complaint claims that in June 2022, a small group of SpaceX employees sent the open letter to thousands of their coworkers via the company’s internal communication channel.

Employees at SpaceX wrote a letter to the company’s leadership requesting that they address comments made on what was then Twitter—now known as X—that Musk deemed offensive and derogatory. This was reported by US media.

After being sacked, some employees filed complaints with the NLRB, alleging that SpaceX had broken labor laws.

This week, the NLRB merged eight complaints that it determined had validity. March 5 is the date of the administrative hearing.

SpaceX requested that the hearing be halted and that the NLRB structure be declared unconstitutional by a federal court located in Texas.