SpaceX filed a complaint Thursday against the American labor inspectorate, the NLRB, to try to prevent it from hearing former employees who claim to have been fired for criticizing the boss, Elon Musk.
The aerospace company claims the operation of that federal agency is unconstitutional and that the hearing process violates the group’s right to a jury trial, according to a copy of the complaint filed in a Texas federal court.
The complaint does not refute the idea that the former employees were fired for asking their colleagues to sign a letter criticizing Elon Musk’s behavior on social media.
“The open letter requested that SpaceX take certain steps to address the perceived deficiencies” and referred to an investigation, according to the court document. A small group of SpaceX employees used the company’s internal communications platform to send the open letter to thousands of colleagues in June 2022.
In this letter, SpaceX employees asked the company’s management to look into what they considered to be derogatory and inappropriate comments from the tempestuous manager on Twitter – renamed X last summer – according to American media.
Employees who were subsequently fired filed complaints with the NLRB, accusing SpaceX of violating labor laws. The agency is scheduled to hear eight of them on March 5.
SpaceX has asked a federal court in Texas to stop the hearing from happening and rule that the NLRB’s structure violates the Constitution.
