SpaceX hit with new NLRB complaint over severance agreements, dispute resolution rules

• The National Labor Relations Board accused SpaceX in a new complaint of entering into unlawful severance agreements with terminated employees nationwide.
• The unfair labor practices complaint comes two months after SpaceX filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the NLRB's oversight authority.
• The agency in a separate complaint in January accused the company of illegally firing eight workers who had criticized its CEO Elon Musk in an open letter.

The National Labor Relations Board accused SpaceX in a new complaint of entering into unlawful severance agreements with terminated employees nationwide.

The unfair labor practices complaint comes two months after SpaceX filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of the NLRB's oversight authority, and after the federal agency in a separate complaint accused the company of illegally firing eight workers who had criticized its CEO Elon Musk in an open letter.

The new NLRB complaint claims that SpaceX included unlawful confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements and that it unlawfully limited the terminated workers' ability to participate in other claims against the company.

It also alleges that the rocket maker and satellite internet company maintained an unlawful rule that required workers — as a condition of their employment — to sign an agreement for arbitration and dispute resolution, and to waive their right to receive money in class-action lawsuits against the company.

One section of the severance agreement says, "You agree not to provide assistance to any current, former, or future SpaceX employee with respect to any complaints, concerns, claims, or litigation of any kind against the Company, whether individual or class or