SpaceX has requested a Texas federal judge to block the National Labor Relations Board from pursuing claims alleging that the Elon Musk-led rocket maker required workers to sign illegal severance agreements.
The company seeks to halt the proceedings pending the outcome of its second challenge to the agency’s structure. Late Thursday, SpaceX filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction from a federal judge in Waco, Texas.
They argue that the board’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution and assert that the company should not face an NLRB complaint filed last month while the case is ongoing.
The board’s general counsel alleges that SpaceX compelled separated employees to sign severance agreements containing confidentiality, arbitration, and non-disparagement clauses that restrict them from exercising their rights under U.S. labor law.
However, SpaceX’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Alan Albright that the agency lacks the power to process the case due to improper insulation of its administrative judges and five presidentially appointed members from removal.
SpaceX’s lawyers stated, “And on top of its constitutional injury and injuries to its business interests, SpaceX will suffer the practical harms of undergoing an extensive administrative proceeding that distracts from its important missions, including launching satellites critical to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies and flying NASA astronauts to space.” An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment on SpaceX’s new lawsuit and Thursday’s motion.
The board has previously stated in court filings that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected claims decades ago that similar removal protections for federal agency officials were invalid.
SpaceX challenges Board
SpaceX is currently challenging the board’s constitutionality in a lawsuit in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, arising from a separate NLRB complaint accusing the company of illegally firing engineers who criticized Musk, its chief executive.
In that case, U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera in February granted the board’s motion to transfer the lawsuit to California, where SpaceX is based, and the administrative case is being heard. SpaceX has requested Olvera to reconsider that ruling after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the company’s petition to block the transfer.
SpaceX has denied wrongdoing in both NLRB cases.
In Thursday’s filing, the company emphasized that its severance agreements serve the crucial purpose of “providing clarity and certainty governing the parties’ relationship.”
The company expressed concern that each passing day with the possibility of new developments in an unconstitutional administrative proceeding creates additional uncertainty and irreparable harm to its important business interests.
Their motion in Waco contained no reference to its pending, similar case before Olvera, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama. Albright, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, is the only active judge in Waco.
In the case involving the fired engineers, an administrative judge held an initial hearing last month but did not hear opening statements or testimony.
The judge was scheduled to hold further hearings beginning in May, but the timeline was pushed back after the appointment of a special master to review both sides’ objections to subpoenas.
