The SpaceX logo is seen on a Falcon 9 rocket being prepared for launch to carry SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the International Space Station at Kennedy Space to transport center. in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, March 2, 2024.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
The National Labor Relations Board accused SpaceX in a new complaint of entering into illegal severance agreements with terminated employees nationwide.
The unfair labor practices lawsuit comes two months after SpaceX filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the NLRB’s oversight authority and after the federal agency accused the company in a separate complaint of illegally firing eight workers who openly criticized its CEO Elon Musk Letter.
The new NLRB complaint alleges that SpaceX included unlawful confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements and unlawfully restricted terminated employees’ ability to participate in other claims against the company.
It also alleges that the rocket maker and the satellite internet company maintained an unlawful policy that required workers, as a condition of their employment, to sign an arbitration and dispute resolution agreement and to waive their right to money in class action lawsuits against them Company.
A section of the severance agreement states: “You agree not to assist any current, former or future SpaceX employee with any complaint, concern, claim or litigation of any kind against the Company, whether individual, group or collective.” unless compelled to do so by a valid subpoena or court order,” the complaint states.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc and
Antonio Masiello | Getty Images
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by the NLRB Regional Director of Region 19-Seattle, alleges that “these unlawful employment contract provisions interfered with, restricted and coerced employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act,” the agency said in a statement E-mail.
If SpaceX does not settle the case, the complaint will be heard by an NLRB administrative law judge in Seattle on October 29.
Any final decision in the case can be appealed to the Federal Court.
As part of the complaint, the agency’s general counsel is seeking an order from the hearing judge requiring SpaceX to vacate the severance agreements and class action waivers and to provide employees with full notice of employee rights.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request from CNBC for comment on the complaint. The company must file a response with the NLRB by April 3.
The action is the latest in a series of battles between Musk’s company and the NLRB.
In a previous complaint against SpaceX filed on January 3, the NLRB alleged that the company violated workers’ rights by firing eight employees because they sent a letter to company executives in June 2022 which they called Musk a “distraction and an embarrassment.”
The letter focused on a series of tweets Musk had written since 2020, many of which were sexually suggestive.
All but one of the people fired had worked at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
A day after filing this NLRB complaint, SpaceX sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas. The company claimed that the NLRB’s structure violated the U.S. Constitution.
Both grocery chain Trader Joe’s and online retail giant Amazon have challenged the legality of the NLRB’s structure in separate lawsuits on these grounds.
In October, the NLRB accused the Musk-owned social media company. The complaint states that worker Yao Yue was terminated after he attempted to organize other workers at the company over these concerns.
X was known as Twitter before Musk bought it.
There are eight open proceedings against this listed on the NLRB’s homepage Teslathe electric car manufacturer whose CEO is Musk.
Musk scored a victory against the NLRB last year when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reversed an NLRB administrative judge’s ruling against Tesla.
That NLRB judge had declared that Tesla’s uniform policy violated workers’ rights to wear clothing with pro-union logos and slogans.
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2024-03-22 22:06:34
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