Rocket and satellite maker SpaceX on Thursday sued the US labor board to block its case accusing the company of illegally firing workers who sent a letter to company executives calling CEO Elon Musk “disruptive and embarrassing.”
SpaceX in a lawsuit filed in Brownsville, Texas federal court alleges the structure of the National Labor Relations Board, which issued a complaint against the company on Wednesday, violates the US Constitution.
The NLRB alleges SpaceX violated federal labor law by firing eight employees in 2022 for signing the letter, which accused Musk of making sexist comments that were against company policy. The case will be heard by an administrative judge and then a five-member board appointed by the US president. The board’s decision can be appealed in federal court.
But SpaceX in its lawsuit claims that because federal law only allows board members and administrative judges to be removed for cause, and not at will, the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional.
A letter from a SpaceX employee called CEO Elon Musk “disruptive and embarrassing.” AP NLRB charges SpaceX violated federal labor laws by laying off eight workers in 2022. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the NLRB case from moving forward.
An NLRB spokesman declined to comment.
SpaceX recently used similar tactics to block an administrative case by the Justice Department that alleged the company illegally refused to hire refugees and asylum seekers.
A federal judge in Brownsville, where Thursday’s case was filed, in November temporarily halted the administrative case pending the outcome of the lawsuit by SpaceX. The judge said that the Constitution requires administrative judges in the Department of Justice to be appointed by the president, rather than the attorney general as is now the case.
SpaceX claims that because federal law only allows board members and administrative judges to be removed for cause, and not at will, the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional. Above, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Reuters
The NLRB is already facing a similar claim from a Starbucks employee who opposed the unionization of the New York store where he worked. The worker sued the board in October after it rejected his petition for an election to dissolve the union. The agency has not yet responded to the claim.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
