The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently charged SpaceX with illegally firing eight employees who wrote an open letter criticizing Elon Musk’s behavior on social media, as well as the company’s response to it.
Now according to Bloomberg, SpaceX is trying to stop the complaint from progressing by suing the labor board, and the company reportedly says in its lawsuit that the complaint should be dismissed because the NLRB’s structure is “unconstitutional,” engadget reports.
SpaceX’s lawsuit attacks the way the Labor Board conducts hearings and the NLRB uses its own administrative judges in its proceedings, which the company says deprives it of its “constitutional right to a jury trial.”
Companies can appeal rulings by agency judges to members of the NLRB in Washington, and they can even go so far as to escalate their appeal to federal court. SpaceX apparently told the court that the case against it should be suspended to prevent the company from being subjected to “lengthy administrative proceedings before an improperly regulated agency.” constitutional”.
The open letter at the center of the case described Musk’s social media behavior as a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment, and called out the CEO’s “harmful Twitter behavior,” including a tweet in which he made a joke about sexual misconduct allegations against him. The letter asked the company to hold all leadership accountable for their actions and condemn harmful behavior. SpaceX fired a total of nine employees over the letter, meaning they were unlawfully fired for “engaging in protected coordinated activity at work,” the NLRB complaint said.
SpaceX said in its lawsuit that the open letter “caused a significant distraction for SpaceX employees across the country” and that it fired the employees involved “for violating numerous company policies.” As Reuters notes, the private space company has used a similar tactic in the past to prevent the US Department of Justice from pursuing an administrative case accusing the company of discriminatory hiring practices.
SpaceX also filed a lawsuit protesting the fact that Justice Department administrative judges have powers reserved for officials appointed by the president, even though they are appointed only by the U.S. attorney general. The company successfully convinced a judge to temporarily halt the administrative case against it while its lawsuit continues.
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