Elon Musk faces a new investigation by US authorities, this time for allegations of discriminatory hiring practices at SpaceX.
The billionaire’s space company is generally more talked about for its exploits in the starry sky, or even for its exceptional satellite Internet network. But today, it is for much more down to earth reasons that the giant appears in the media.
No refugees or asylum seekers
How to become a SpaceX employee? If places are expensive, it seems that some people go even further in the recruitment process. In any case, this is explained by the American Department of Justice, which accuses SpaceX of having applied between 2018 and 2022 an active policy of discrimination against refugees and asylum seekers. As a reminder, other tech giants like Amazon had also been sentenced for hiring discrimination.
” Investigation found SpaceX failed to consider or fairly hire asylum seekers and refugees because of their citizenship status “, announces the assistant attorney general of the civil rights division within the Department of Justice, Kristen Clarke. ” Recruiters and senior SpaceX officials took actions that actively discouraged candidates for SpaceX hiring [réfugiés et demandeurs d’asile] in violation of federal law.
compensation and change
The investigation began in 2020 when a complainant named Fabian Hutter explained that his recruitment process was abruptly interrupted after a question about his administrative status. The authorities are asking anyone else who has suffered a similar mishap to come and report to them.
The objective of the department is threefold. He wants civil sanctions against SpaceX, damages for injured refugees and asylum seekers, but also a transformation of the hiring policy applied by the aerospace company. SpaceX had already received a subpoena from the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section in 2021, without acting on it, which had forced the Justice Department to seek a judge to obtain the desired documents.
Source : Engadget
16