In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, U.S. federal prosecutors allege that Elon Musk’s SpaceX engaged in discriminatory practices over an extended period towards refugees and individuals granted political asylum who were seeking employment in the rocket company.
According to the lawsuit, SpaceX systematically discouraged refugees and asylees from applying and refused to hire or consider them due to their citizenship status, thereby contravening the Immigration and Nationality Act. These practices are said to have occurred from at least September 2018 to May 2022.
Fortune noted that in the past, Musk has indicated that SpaceX was restricted from employing foreign nationals unless they possessed a green card, suggesting that this was due to constraints associated with the sharing of information linked to rocket technology, governed by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
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“If you’re working on rocket technology, that’s considered an advanced weapons technology. So even a normal work visa isn’t sufficient, unless you get a special permission from the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State,” Musk was quoted as saying at a space conference in 2016.
The lawsuit follows the conclusion of a probe by the DOJ into SpaceX’s hiring practices.
As part of its allegations, the U.S. Department of Justice asserted that SpaceX made inaccurate claims in its job postings, stating that it was constrained by federal export control laws to exclusively hire U.S. citizens and green card holders. The agency clarified that these laws do not mandate such limitations on hiring.
The investigation conducted by the Department of Justice was initiated in 2020, prompted by a complaint by an individual who said he was denied employment at SpaceX after disclosing during an interview that he did not possess U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency. In June 2021, a federal judge mandated SpaceX to provide its hiring records as a component of the ongoing investigation, per Fortune.
“Our investigation also found that SpaceX recruiters and high-level officials took actions that actively discouraged
asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company,” Kristen Clarke, the Justice Department’s head of civil rights, said in a statement.
The Justice Department further noted that the authorization for asylees and refugees to reside and work in the United States remains valid indefinitely, placing them on a level playing field with U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents in accordance with export control laws.
“Under these laws, companies like SpaceX can hire asylees and refugees for the same positions they would hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents,” it said. “And once hired, asylees and refugees can access export-controlled information and materials without additional government approval, just like U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.”
Companies under Musk have been accused of racial discrimination among other allegations of impropriety, with some resulting in lawsuits or regulatory probes.
Tesla Inc., the electric vehicle manufacturer led by Musk, has faced allegations from Black employees at its Fremont, California factory, who said that managers turned a blind eye to the frequent use of racial slurs on the assembly line and were sluggish in addressing graffiti with hate symbols such as swastikas that were scribbled in common areas.
In another case, Tesla is currently contesting allegations made by California’s civil rights department, which state that a considerable number of African American workers at its factory were subjected to mistreatment encompassing harassment, unequal compensation, and reprisals.
Separately, SpaceX is entangled in several lawsuits from former employees in recent years, alleging discrimination based on factors like age, race, and disability. Just earlier this month, a former SpaceX technician filed a lawsuit against the company in a California state court, alleging experiences of workplace harassment related to physical disability and subsequent retaliation, according to Fortune.
Other U.S. companies have also been investigated and sued by federal prosecutors over discriminatory job listings.
In September, Walmart Inc., CarMax Inc., Capital One Financial Corp., and Axis Analytics settled with the Justice Department after similar claims over discriminatory job postings against non-US citizens, the agency said. In June, auditing firm KPMG and 15 other employers also settled with the agency over hiring bias in postings on a college career services website. The agency said it collected $1.1 million from the 20 employers in civil penalties.
The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department claims that SpaceX engaged in discrimination against asylum seekers and refugees due to their citizenship status across various stages of the hiring process.
For instance, in 2020, a SpaceX engineer shared a job posting on a chat forum during a college career fair at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The posting specified that applicants must be “a US citizen,” even though the role did not necessitate U.S. citizenship, according to the allegations made in the complaint.
In the lawsuit against SpaceX filed on Thursday, U.S. federal prosecutors are requesting the court to grant retroactive wages and unspecified civil fines for asylum seekers and refugees who, according to the complaint, were purportedly refused employment opportunities at SpaceX.