Rocket company SpaceX has laid off at least five employees after discovering they had drafted and distributed a letter criticizing founder Elon Musk and urging executives to make the company’s culture more inclusive, two sources said.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Company president Gwynne Shotwell sent an email saying the company had investigated and “fired several employees involved” with the letter, the New York Times reported this week.
As the NYT reported, Shotwell’s email said employees involved in publicizing the letter were fired for making other employees feel “uncomfortable, intimidated, oppressed and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign something that did not reflect their opinions”.
Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
The document, titled “Open Letter to SpaceX Executives,” seen by Reuters, called Musk a “distraction and embarrassment” for the company.
In a list of three demands, the material said that “SpaceX must quickly and explicitly separate itself from Elon’s personal brand”, “hold all leadership equally accountable for making SpaceX a great place to work for everyone” and “define and respond uniformly to all forms of unacceptable behavior”.
The letter, first reported by The Verge, was penned by SpaceX employees in recent weeks and shared as an attachment in an internal chat on a group called “Morale Boosters” that brings together thousands of employees, a source said.
Much of the company’s day-to-day business operations are led by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. She promised to enforce SpaceX’s “zero tolerance” standards against employee harassment.
Source: CNN Brasil
