Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued by former employee over alleged racial discrimination

A former technician at Elon Musk‘s aerospace company SpaceX has filed a lawsuit accusing it of racial discrimination. L’Tavious Rice, who is Black, worked as a materials inspector for the company. He claims he was fired for arriving late to work while caring for his young daughter as she recovered from a heart transplant, according to The Independent.

Rice alleges that although his white colleagues were also regularly late or absent, they faced no consequences. In contrast, Rice says he was penalised, even though, according to the complaint, his managers were aware of his daughter’s medical condition and had “encouraged him to take time off as needed.”

Rice’s lawyer, Stephanie Perez, told The Independent that his daughter’s condition required regular hospital visits and close monitoring. And even when his daughter was hospitalised for a week, he was still showing up for work, according to Perez.

“He consistently outperformed his white coworkers, but was held to a higher standard,” she said. “SpaceX turned a blind eye to several white co-workers showing up late, or failing to show up at all.”

Perez claimed that managers allowed white employees to clock in late by adjusting their time records, something not done for Rice.

The lawsuit also claims that SpaceX’s HR department began making it difficult for him to take time off after he agreed to testify in a separate investigation against a former supervisor. Rice believes his termination was a retaliation.

After informing his supervisors about his daughter’s health, Rice followed procedure by logging his absences in SpaceX’s time-off portal, which runs on a point-based penalty system. But, according to the complaint, HR began enforcing the system strictly against him after he spoke out against his former supervisor, leading to increased scrutiny of his leave.

He was eventually terminated last August. “SpaceX cited the point system as the basis for such termination,” the complaint said.

Originally filed in Los Angeles, the case was moved to federal court on June 25.

The complaint states that Rice was denied proper meal breaks and was expected to “work through lunch”. Despite having no issues with his performance, the lawsuit says he was dismissed, and described SpaceX’s actions as “deliberate, cold, callous, cruel and intentional”.

Rice joined SpaceX in February 2020 and the complaint noted that he “was consistently complimented for his work ethic, outshining his cohort.”

SpaceX hasn’t issued any statement regarding the issue.