section_path: Corporate affairs/Workplace culture
section_name: Workplace culture
paragraph_text: Workplace culture
  
  According to former NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver, the company overall has a male-dominated employee culture, similar to that of the spaceflight industry in general. In December 2021, claims of workplace sexual harassment from five former SpaceX employees, ranging from interns to full engineers, were published. The former employees claimed to have experienced unwanted advances and uncomfortable interactions. Additionally, the accounts included claims of a culture of sexual harassment existing at the company and one where complaints made to executives, managers, and human resources officers went largely unaddressed.
  
  In May 2022, a Business Insider article alleged that Musk engaged in sexual misconduct with a SpaceX flight attendant in a private jet in 2016 citing an anonymous friend of the flight attendant. In response, some employees collaborated on an open letter condemning "Elon's harmful Twitter behavior". It also asks the company to clearly define SpaceX's "no-asshole" and " zero tolerance " policies, which it says is unequally enforced from one employee to the next. The next day, Gwynne Shotwell announced that those employees who were involved with the letter had been terminated and claimed that unsponsored, unsolicited surveys were sent to employees during the work day and that some felt pressured to sign the letter.
  
  The company has also been described as having a work culture that pushes employees to work excessively and is described as fostering a burnout culture. According to a memo by Blue Origin, a rival aerospace company with a history of lawsuits and anti-SpaceX political lobbying, SpaceX expected very long work hours, work on weekends, and limited use of holidays.
  
  "SpaceX employees say they’re paying the price for the billionaire’s push to colonize space at breakneck speed" reported Reuters in 2023. An examination of OSHA's records revealed injury rates higher than the industry's averages. In addition, Reuters documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at SpaceX, including "crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death." The person who died was Lonnie LeBlanc, a former United States Marine.
  
  In June 2024, eight ex-employees, the same who had previously been fired for penning the open letter against Elon Musk, filed a lawsuit against Musk and SpaceX alleging sexual harassment and discrimination.