The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX with the NLRB complaint for severance pay

The National Labor Relations Board accused SpaceX in a new complaint of entering into illegal severance agreements with fired employees nationwide.

The unfair labor practices complaint comes two months after SpaceX filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the NLRB’s oversight authority, and after the federal agency in a separate complaint accused the company of illegally firing eight workers who had criticized its CEO Elon Musk in an open complaint. letter.

The new NLRB complaint alleges that SpaceX included unlawful confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements and that it unlawfully limited the ability of fired workers to participate in other claims against the company.

It is also alleged that the rocket manufacturer and satellite internet company maintained an illegal rule that required workers – as a condition of their employment – ​​to sign an arbitration and dispute resolution agreement, and to waive their right to receive money in class action lawsuits against the company.

A section of the severance agreement reads: “You agree not to assist any current, former, or future SpaceX employee with respect to any complaints, concerns, demands, or disputes of any kind against the Company, whether individual or class or collective”. action, unless compelled to do so by a valid subpoena or court order,” the complaint reads.

The suit, filed Wednesday by the regional director of the NLRB’s Region 19-Seattle, alleges that “these unlawful provisions of the employment contract have interfered with, restrained and coerced employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in the National Labor Relations Act,” he said the agency. said in an email.

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 federal court.

As part of the complaint, the agency’s general counsel is seeking an order from the hearing judge requiring SpaceX to terminate severance agreements and class action waivers and to provide workers with broad notice on employee rights.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC on the complaint. The company is required to file a response with the NLRB by April 3.

The action is the latest in a series of battles between Musk’s companies and the NLRB.

In an earlier complaint against SpaceX filed on January 3, the NLRB said the company violated workers’ rights by firing eight employees for sending a letter in June 2022 to company executives, calling Musk a “distraction and embarrassment” .

The letter focused on a series of tweets Musk had posted since 2020, many of them sexually suggestive.

All but one of the people fired had worked at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The day after the complaint was filed with the NLRB, SpaceX sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas. The company argued that the NLRB’s structure violates the U.S. Constitution.

Both grocery store chain Trader Joe’s and online retail giant Amazon challenged the legality of the NLRB’s framework on these grounds in separate actions.

In October, the NLRB accused social media company X, owned by Musk, of violating the law by firing an employee who criticized the company’s return-to-work policy. The complaint states that the worker, Yao Yue, was fired after attempting to organize other workers at the company regarding such concerns.

X was known as Twitter before Musk bought it.

The NLRB’s home page lists eight open cases against Teslathe electric car manufacturer of which Musk is CEO.

Musk scored a victory against the NLRB last year with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturning a decision against Tesla by an NLRB administrative law judge.

That NLRB judge had ruled that Tesla’s uniform policy violated workers’ right to wear clothing emblazoned with pro-union logos and slogans.