SpaceX hit with new NLRB complaint over severance agreements, dispute resolution rules

The

National
Labor
Relations
Board
accused

SpaceX
in
a
new
complaint
of
entering
into
unlawful
severance
agreements
with
terminated
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
letter.

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

It
also
alleges
that
the
rocket
maker
and
satellite
internet
company
maintained
an
unlawful
rule
that
required
workers
—
as
a
condition
of
their
employment
—
to
sign
an
agreement
for
arbitration
and
dispute
resolution,
and
to
waive
their
right
to
receive
money
in
class-action
lawsuits
against
the
company.

One
section
of
the
severance
agreement
says,
“You
agree
not
to
provide
assistance
to
any
current,
former,
or
future
SpaceX
employee
with
respect
to
any
complaints,
concerns,
claims,
or
litigation
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
noted.

The
action,
filed
Wednesday
by
NLRB’s
Region
19-Seattle
Regional
Director,
alleges
that,
“these
unlawful
employment
agreement
provisions
have
been
interfering
with,
restraining,
and
coercing
employees
in
the
exercise
of
the
rights
guaranteed
in
the
National
Labor
Relations
Act,”
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
Oct.
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
rescind
the
severance
agreements
and
class-action
waivers,
and
to
broadly
notify
workers
of
a
notice
of
employee
rights.

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

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

In
a
prior
complaint
against
SpaceX
filed
Jan.
3,
the
NLRB
alleged
that
the
company
had
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
that
Musk
had
made
since
2020,
many
of
which
were
sexually
suggestive.

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

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

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

In
October,
the
NLRB
accused
the
Musk-owned
social
media
company

X
of
violating
the
law
by
firing
an
employee
who
criticized
the
firm’s
return-to-work
policy.
The
complaint
says
that
the
worker,
Yao
Yue,
was
terminated
after
trying
to
organize
other
workers
at
the
company
over
those
concerns.

X
was
known
as
Twitter
before
Musk
bought
it.

The
NLRB’s
home
page
lists
eight

open
cases
against


Tesla,
the
electric
car
maker
of
which
Musk
is
CEO.

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

That
NLRB
judge
had
declared
that
Tesla’s
uniform
policy
had
violated
the
rights
of
workers
to
wear
clothes
adorned
with
pro-union
logos
and
slogans.