SpaceX Facing Class Action Over Alleged Labor Law Violations in California

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A proposed class action filed by a former SpaceX employee accuses the spacecraft engineering company of a slew of California labor law violations, including failing to pay hourly workers proper minimum, straight time and overtime wages.

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The 25-page lawsuit says that despite requirements under state law, Space Exploration Technologies, Corp.—which does business as SpaceX—has also failed to give hourly employees meal and rest periods, timely pay all final wages after employment is terminated, provide accurate wage statements and reimburse workers for expenditures paid out of pocket.

According to the suit, the spacecraft manufacturer, which was co-founded by Elon Musk in 2002, has regularly required hourly employees to work off-the-clock by, for instance, compelling them to perform tasks before clocking in for the day. Per the case, workers have not been provided overtime pay for these off-the-clock hours, as required by state law.

Additionally, though hourlies are entitled to a 30-minute, uninterrupted meal period for every five hours of work, SpaceX has often required its employees to work in excess of five consecutive hours without providing them with legally compliant meal periods, the complaint alleges.

“Instead, [SpaceX] continued to assert control over [the plaintiff] and the Class by requiring, pressuring, or encouraging them to perform work tasks that could not be completed without working in lieu of taking mandatory meal periods, or by denying [the plaintiff] and the Class permission to take a meal period,” the filing contends.

The defendant is similarly accused of forcing its employees to work more than four consecutive hours without allowing them a 10-minute rest break, as required by law, the lawsuit relays. Per the suit, SpaceX has also failed to pay its workers an additional hour’s wages on workdays during which they were not provided with all mandated rest periods, in violation of the California Labor Code.

Further, the case claims that the company has not provided its employees with itemized wage statements that list all the information required by state law and has failed to reimburse them for work-related expenses incurred on the job, such as cell phone use and parking.

Lastly, SpaceX has allegedly refused to timely pay workers all final wages owed to them at the conclusion of their employment in accordance with California law, which stipulates that all unpaid wages are due immediately upon discharge or within 72 hours of an employee leaving.

The plaintiff, a California resident who worked for SpaceX from roughly January 2022 to September 2022, looks to represent anyone who has worked for SpaceX in California as an hourly or non-exempt employee at any time during the period beginning four years and 178 days before the filing of the initial complaint and ending when notice to the class is sent.

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