Texas [US], June 13 (HBTV): Eight former employees of Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued the company and Musk on Wednesday, alleging they were “wrongfully fired” for raising concerns about “sexual harassment” and “discrimination” in the workplace, reported the New York Times.

The employees were terminated in 2022 after circulating an open letter urging SpaceX executives to condemn Musk’s comments on Twitter, later renamed X, which they deemed “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment.”

According to the complaint, Musk ordered the terminations upon learning of the letter.

The plaintiffs are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory damages. SpaceX has not responded to the allegations yet.

The lawsuit, filed in California state court in Los Angeles, called SpaceX’s workplace an “Animal House” filled with inappropriate and sexually suggestive behaviour, the NYT reported.

The lawsuit further contends that executives at SpaceX were regularly made aware of grievances about Musk’s explicit social media messages, but that the complaints were routinely ‘dismissed’, even after a “sexual harassment internal audit” conducted by SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell.

The lawsuit was filed a day before Tesla shareholders are expected to conclude a vote on a pay package for Musk that’s worth about USD 45 billion. It also followed a Tuesday report in The Wall Street Journal detailing Musk’s history of sexual relationships with co-workers.

The lawsuit is the latest in a list of grievances between employees and Musk.

(ANI) This is a syndicated news feed. HBTV has edited it for clarity.