SpaceX may have violated US labour law by firing employees who criticised Elon Musk’s behaviour
India Today
SpaceX has likely violated US labour laws by abruptly firing employees who wrote an open letter against Musk.
SpaceX employees who criticised Elon Musk’s behaviour were asked to leave the Tesla-owned company. Now it has been reported that the company has likely violated US labour laws by abruptly firing the employees. The employees who lost their jobs may also approach the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to challenge SpaceX. As a result of which, Tesla could be forced to reinstate the employees with back pay.
"To be covered, an action has to be concerted (certainly the case here) and it has to relate to working conditions," Charlotte Garden, a law professor at Seattle University, was quoted as saying about the company’s abrupt firing.
Musk led-SpaceX parted ways with the employees when they wrote an open letter criticising Musk’s behaviour. In t, employees described Musk’s behavior as “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks.” The letter also talked about SpaceX’s “No Asshole” policy and asked the company to “publicly address and condemn Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior.”
"As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values," the SpaceX employees noted in the letter.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell confirmed to a daily that people involved with the letter criticising Trump were fired.“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,” Shotwell noted in the email. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”
It is ironical that Musk, who claims to be an advocate of free-speech, does not really practice it in his own company, Tesla. The reason why he wanted to take over Twitter was to let free speech thrive on the platform, but he has tried to stifle the voice of his employees who have voiced their opinion against the company.
