US judiciary sues Musk group
Did SpaceX discriminate against refugees in the job process?
08/25/2023 09:54 am
Actually, SpaceX has its own anti-discrimination policy. The Musk group is said to have systematically ignored job applications from refugees. The company denies any responsibility.
The US Department of Justice has sued Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX for hiring discrimination against asylum seekers and refugees. From at least September 2018 until May last year, Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) discouraged refugees from applying for jobs and refused to hire them or consider their applications, the Justice Department said. The company falsely claimed that federal export control laws only allowed it to hire US citizens and US permanent residents.
A SpaceX spokesman and an attorney for the company did not respond to requests for comment. In a court filing related to the Justice Department investigation, the company has denied making hiring decisions based on applicants’ immigration status.
“Consistent with its published anti-discrimination policy, SpaceX cannot afford to artificially limit the talent pool from which it is hiring by discriminating against anyone based on their citizenship,” the company’s attorneys said in 2021.
“We couldn’t even hire Canadian citizens”
Musk stressed that SpaceX has been repeatedly advised that hiring non-US residents violates international arms trade law and is a criminal offense. “We couldn’t even hire Canadian citizens,” he writes on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Like other companies involved in the space and defense sectors, SpaceX is subject to US export control laws and regulations that restrict the company’s transfer of data or hardware. The Justice Department argues in its lawsuit that these rules do not limit SpaceX’s ability to hire regardless of citizenship or immigration status.