One of SpaceX's former employees who had been wrongfully dismissed for calling out a hostile workplace culture has come forth to hold the company accountable for alleged 'frat culture,' Bloomberg exclusively reported.
SpaceX's Hostile Workplace
Paige Holland-Thielen conveyed to Bloomberg that her experience working at SpaceX felt similar to babysitting frat boys in an environment where casual sexism was prevalent.
Holland-Thielen and her co-plaintiffs launched a civil rights lawsuit against SpaceX in June, alleging employees at Elon Musk's rocket firm were using their work email to organize "nug and chug," a drinking game where they had to consume as many chicken nuggets as they can. According to her, these employees also joked about consuming alcohol heavily before returning to the office to oversee a rocket launch. Business Insider tried to reach out but has received no response.
According to the lawsuit, male employees at the company allegedly subjected women to crude jokes reminiscent of Musk's tweets, openly stared at their chests, persistently asked them out, and asserted that they were biologically unfit to be engineers. The fired employees contend that Musk and other executives penalized those who advocated for change instead of addressing these behaviors.
READ ALSO: SpaceX Wrongfully Terminating Eight Workers, Faces Criticism on Labor Laws and Working Conditions
Musk Legally Challenged NLRB Back
Holland-Thielen and her co-plaintiffs said they were terminated two years ago for specifically contributing to an open letter to management questioning whether the company's "no asshole" policy applied both to Elon Musk and ordinary employees. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint accusing SpaceX of unlawfully firing the eight engineers in January. However, Musk had the federal agency withdrawing its complaint by Memorial Day, indefinitely postponing their case while SpaceX pursues a separate lawsuit against the NLRB itself, as Reuters reported.
The labor board's general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, told Bloomberg that Musk only wanted to buy time and escape trouble through financial means or assertive tactics.
SpaceX did not respond to inquiries for this story, and neither did its attorneys. In legal filings, SpaceX has accused the fired workers of violating company policies, causing distractions among their colleagues, and using subpoena requests to harass Elon Musk.
NASA and the US Space Force refused to comment due to SpaceX's pending litigation. However, NASA stated in a release that it is dedicated to ensuring a safe work environment for its contractors and upholds a strong commitment to compliance.
Business Insider previously reported that SpaceX had also settled for $250,000 with a flight attendant who alleged that Musk exposed himself to her, rubbed her leg, and proposed exchanging a horse for an erotic massage. Musk responded flippantly to the incident, treating it as a joke in a tweet where he replied to someone mentioning the story by saying, "Fine, if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse."
🤣🤣
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
Hi Chad, long time no see!
Fine, if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse.
Holland-Thielen and her colleagues emphasized their responsibilities as SpaceX employees to challenge established processes, innovate quickly as a team to solve complex problems and embrace failures as learning opportunities. However, despite these technical achievements, SpaceX does not give equal priority to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the company, as conveyed in a letter they sent to SpaceX executives and shared internally in June 2022.
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