The US Department of Justice sued Elon Musk and SpaceX over allegations that it discriminated against asylees and refugees in hiring based on rocket launches
The US Department of Justice is suing Elon Musk’s SpaceX over allegations that it discriminated against asylees and refugees in hiring. In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the DOJ claims that, from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX discouraged refugees and asylees from applying to the company “by wrongly stating that SpaceX can only hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.”
According to the lawsuit, SpaceX only provided the documents more than a year later after the IER obtained a subpoena. In November 2022, the IER told SpaceX that it finished its investigation into the company, stating that it “found reasonable cause to believe that SpaceX had engaged in a pattern or practice of unfair immigration-related employment practices.”
SpaceX builds and launches rockets, which limits its capacity to export certain technologies and software under export control laws such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
The department said that visas for refugees and immigrants are valid in the U.S. regardless of whether or not they are under export control laws.
Rejected applicants with asylum or refugee status had apt experience for the roles, including one person who graduated from Georgia Tech University and had nine years of engineering experience and another who the hiring manager said had “some impressive experience listed,” the Justice Department said in its lawsuit.