NLRB complaint accuses SpaceX of illegal severance agreements

March 23 (UPI) -- The National Labor Relations Board has accused SpaceX of forcing terminated employees into unlawful severance agreements in a complaint filed this week.

The complaint, filed Wednesday, alleges SpaceX illegally fired an employee for participating in protected activities and included unlawful confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements.

It also alleged the Elon Musk-owned space travel company unlawfully required workers to sign an agreement of arbitration and dispute resolution and to waive their right to receive money in class-action lawsuits against the company.

"These unlawful employment agreement provisions have been interfering with, restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in the National Labor Relations Act," the NLRB said in a statement to CNBC.

SpaceX must respond to the complaint by April 3. If the company does not settle the case, an NLRB administrative hearing judge will deliberate on Oct. 29.

The NLRB is asking the hearing judge to force SpaceX to rescind the severance agreements and class-action waivers and to broadly notify workers of a notice of employee rights.

The complaint comes after the NLRB in 2022 filed a unfair labor practice charge alleging SpaceX illegally fired eight employees for criticizing Musk in an open letter.

The letter called Musk a "distraction and embarrassment" over a series of social media posts he made in 2020, many of which were sexual in nature.

Other former SpaceX employees have accused Musk of sexual harassment, racism and sexism.

SpaceX filed a suit in federal court two months ago challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB's oversight authority and depriving the company of its right to a jury trial.

SpaceX is not the only Musk-owned company to run afoul of the NLRB. An agency judge in 2022 declared Tesla's uniform policy violated workers' rights by prohibiting them from wearing clothes with pro-union insignias, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit vacated the decision.

The NLRB in October also accused social media company X of illegally firing an employee for criticizing the company's return-to-work policy and trying to organize workers over the complaints.