The National Labor Relations Board today filed a complaint that accuses Space X Corp. of unlawfully firing eight employees for a 2022 letter in which they condemned the behavior of Chief Executive Elon Musk.

In the letter, which was drafted and sent to other employees to sign, Musk was said to be an embarrassment to the company for his somewhat controversial comments on what was then Twitter Inc. This included him denying he had exposed himself to a flight attendant but also a slew of comments SpaceX said were not in line with the behavior of a CEO.

“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter said. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”

The letter then states that everyone at SpaceX should adhere to the company’s “No Asshole” and “Zero Tolerance” policies, and the boss is not exempted. Perhaps somewhat sensationally, the employees wrote, “Is the culture we are fostering now the one which we aim to bring to Mars and beyond?”

It’s unclear how many signatures the letter received, but what’s not unclear is the fact that the creators of the missive were soon out of a job. Today, the NLRB’s complaint stated that an environment of fear ensued at the company when employees were interrogated and subsequently told not to say anything about the interviews. It said SpaceX “created an impression of surveillance” by hounding employees, after which the company “invited employees to quit and threatened discharge.”

The complaint asks that SpaceX now post notices for 120 days regarding the rights of employees. It also wants SpaceX to write apologies to the staff that were fired. There will be a hearing with the NLRB administrative law judge in March this year if the company doesn’t attempt to settle the charges.

Photo: Jérôme Boursier/Unsplash