What is going on under Elon Musk’s umbrella of companies?
Over the last few months, allegations of both racism and sexual harassment at Tesla have been rampant – and now it looks like the troublesome behavior may also be an issue at SpaceX, according to a new report from the NY Times.
Three women have come forward and said that while they were interns at SpaceX, they “faced sexual harassment and unwanted advances from other interns as well as men in more senior positions”.
One former intern, Ashley Kosak, wrote in an essay that a male intern groped her in 2017 while she was doing dishes in company housing. She also claimed that in 2018, another male intern “ran his hand up her torso”.
After reporting the 2017 incident to her manager and the 2018 incident to HR, she said she never got a response from the company.
“Given my tenuous position at the company, I felt powerless,” she said.
Her claims were similar to those of other interns, one of whom said she “witnessed other instances of harassment”. Another woman told The NY Times she “experienced harassment”.
Gwynne Shotwell, company COO and President, responded: “Timely reporting of harassment is key to our maintaining SpaceX as a great place to work; we can’t fix what we don’t know.”
She said the company would conduct audits of its HR department as a result.
Kosak, meanwhile, said she met with Shotwell about the 2018 harassment, but “made no progress”. She said: “It was a meeting where I spoke at them, they spoke at me, and we all left and that was that.”
We also noted this week that six additional lawsuits had been filed against Tesla, alleging its Fremont factory “resembles a construction site” or “a frat house”, according to Bloomberg.
The complaints filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court state: “Although Tesla publicly claims that it fosters a safe and respectful environment for its workers,’ the truth is that for years Tesla has subjected women working in its Fremont factory facilities to nightmarish conditions of rampant sexual harassment.”
The complaints detail male colleagues and supervisors engaging in harassment and describes Tesla’s “lack of response” when claims were reported.
Of the six suits filed, five women worked in the company’s Fremont factory, where roughly 10,000 Tesla employees work.
Attorney David Lowe of San Francisco stated: “Tesla has failed to take sexual harassment seriously, from the top of the company down.”
Wait until “Senator Karen” finds out about the allegations…
— TITAN MINING💡 (@capitalistbank) December 15, 2021
