"SpaceX Challenges NLRB Due to Employee Open Letter Criticizing Elon Musk's Conduct"

SpaceX has recently filed a lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asserting that its proceedings infringe on constitutional rights. This follows accusations from the NLRB that SpaceX dismissed employees unlawfully for voicing concerns about Elon Musk. ![The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes off at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.][1] - Elon Musk's SpaceX is now in a legal battle with the NLRB, claiming its proceedings are in violation of the Constitution. - This lawsuit has been prompted by accusations from the NLRB that SpaceX wrongfully terminated employees voicing concerns about Musk. - Legal experts suggest that if SpaceX prevails, it may have significant implications for federal agencies. SpaceX argues that the NLRB, the federal organization overseeing managerial-employee relationships throughout the country, operates in an unconstitutional manner. The lawsuit, filed on January 4 in the Brownsville division of the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, has erupted amid the ongoing NLRB proceedings arguing that SpaceX unlawfully dismissed several employees who spoke out against Musk. Representatives for SpaceX and the NLRB have yet to comment on the matter outside customary business hours. ### Employees at SpaceX Accuse Elon Musk of Being a Distraction The immediate cause for the lawsuit appears to stem from an open letter circulated among SpaceX employees in 2022. The employees criticized Musk's occasional outlandish and explicit commentary on Twitter, asserting the company's leadership should explicitly detail and consistently enforce policies related to irresponsible conduct. The document, which was accessible on a SpaceX Microsoft Teams channel and deleted within just over a day, voiced the employees' feeling that Musk's public behavior often results in them feeling mortified, especially in recent times. They argue that since Musk represents the company's public image, each of his tweets often reflects on the company. It is essential for the company and potential job seekers to distinguish Musk's often provocative social media presence from the company's mission, work, and philosophy. The NLRB alleges that eight SpaceX employees involved in the drafting and posting of the open memo were unjustly terminated. The NLRB filing against the billionaire's spacecraft enterprise states that SpaceX notified other employees that the eight had been discharged due to their involvement in the open letter and that it had questioned other employees about the letter, giving off an impression of surveillance. SpaceX also discouraged participation in the open memo and restricted employees from distributing it further. This isn't the first instance of allegations against a Musk-led company for terminating employees who criticized his behavior. Employees at Twitter, after their recent acquisition by Musk, have claimed they faced termination for criticizing Musk on Twitter. Moreover, two ex-employees at Tesla filed a complaint with the NLRB, accusing the company of firing them unlawfully for criticizing Musk's tweets and the company's stringent return-to-office policy. ### SpaceX Challenges the Authority of the NLRB Instead of defending its actions regarding the accused employee terminations, SpaceX is targeting the federal agency directly in response to the NLRB complaint. The company alleges that the structure and operations of the NLRB violate the Constitution on the following grounds: 1. NLRB judges and board members are unconstitutionally immune to Presidential removal, an infraction of Article II of the Constitution. 2. NLRB proceedings infringe upon SpaceX's right to a jury trial since they make decisions on private matters outside the court system, thus violating the Seventh Amendment. 3. The NLRB breaches the separation of powers and violates SpaceX's right to due process by exercising the powers of prosecution, legislation, and adjudication all within the same proceeding. ### An Innovative Approach Labor and employment attorney and Columbia University lecturer, Jerry Cutler, has stated that the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act, which forms the basis of the NLRB, has been challenged occasionally in the past, beginning soon after it was passed in 1935. However, these challenges have never been victorious, especially on the somewhat novel grounds on which SpaceX has laid out its lawsuit. Moreover, SpaceX's arguments against the NLRB mirror a recent argument against the board's authority published by the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group advocating for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the Constitution. Wimmer tags SpaceX's approach as an "all-out legal challenge," posing unique constitutional questions concerning the NLRB's power to rule on manager-employee-related issues and the existence of federal enforcement agencies in general. By choosing to file the case in Texas, SpaceX appears to aim for a hearing in front of an audience potentially more sympathetic to its cause compared to the traditionally worker-advocacy-oriented courts in California, where the alleged terminations took place.