SpaceX
The rocket and satellite maker is responding to the National Labor Relations Board's complaint that employees were unfairly fired
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Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX sued a U.S. labor board on Thursday to block its case accusing the company of illegally firing employees who sent a letter to company executives criticizing the CEO Calling Elon Musk a “distraction and embarrassment.”
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, SpaceX claims that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which filed a complaint against the company on Wednesday, violates the U.S. Constitution.
SpaceX is accused of illegally firing employees who criticize CEO Elon Musk
The NLRB alleges that SpaceX violated federal labor law by firing eight workers in 2022 because they signed the letter that accused Musk of making sexist comments that violated company policy. This case will be heard by an administrative law judge and then by a five-member panel appointed by the U.S. President. The board's decisions can be appealed to the Federal Court.
SpaceX claims in its lawsuit that the NLRB's structure is unconstitutional because federal law allows the removal of board members and administrative law judges only for cause and not at will. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the NLRB case from moving forward.
An NLRB spokesman declined to comment.
SpaceX recently used a similar tactic to block a U.S. Department of Justice administrative case alleging the company illegally refused to hire refugees and asylum seekers.
A federal judge in Brownsville suspended the administrative proceedings in November pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by SpaceX. The judge said the U.S. Constitution requires that administrative law judges in the Justice Department be appointed by the president, not the attorney general, as is currently the case.
The NLRB is already facing a similar lawsuit from a Starbucks employee who opposed unionization at the New York store where she works. The worker sued the board in October after it rejected her request for a new election to dissolve the union. The agency has not responded to this lawsuit.
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