SpaceX employee sues company for alleged sexual discrimination, retaliation

[Admin]

SpaceX employee Michelle Dopak has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging, among other things, that the company retaliated against her for reporting sexual harassment.

SpaceX employee sues company for alleged sexual discrimination, retaliation : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I am not understanding why Space.com considers this "space news". These are allegations, not findings, and are not that unusual in large companies, even large government organizations.

That said, there are some things that don't seem to be consistent within this story. It seems odd that a woman who is attractive enough to be accused of getting her job because of her good looks is claiming that she is being passed-over for promotions because she is a woman. It also seems to be odd that a woman who was "coerced" into a sexual relationship with a "married supervisor" would refuse to have an abortion, especially when it came with an offer of $100,000. These days, the anti-discrimination laws and anti-harassment laws are too often being weaponized by crafty people who use them to get ahead instead of doing so by producing superior results. And, that undermines their effectiveness when needed to deal with real discrimination and harassment.

Hard to tell what is really going on in this case. So, why is Space.com highlighting it at this stage of the story? And why include a litany of other lawsuits filed against SpaceX at the end of this story? For objectivity, shouldn't Space.com be providing a similar list of all the allegations of workplace discrimination and harassment files against Boeing, Aerojet, NASA, etc? Having worked in several environments, I have seen bogus accusations as well as legitimate ones in multiple places.

 

[Cdr. Shepard]

Indeed. Would rather this case not be settled by the court of public opinion, as they so often have been in recent years. Why Space.com resorts to this kind of sensationalism still, in 2024, is a bit disheartening.

I will say, the overtly political headlines on Space.com have been fewer and further between since peaking around 2021. Mike Wall usually does a great job reporting on SpaceX and generally appears to be a fan of the company. Perhaps he's trying to avoid showing too positive a bias?

Who knows.

 

[Actionjksn]

So she had a consensual affair with a married supervisor and it's totally not in any way her fault, it's exclusively his fault, because he's a man.

Now that the supervisor is not her boyfriend, she is being forced to work hard like everyone else and she doesn't like it. Amazing! I hope she doesn't get a dime out of SpaceX and the only money she gets is normal child support payments from her ex-boyfriend.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Actionjksn, now you are jumping to conclusions, too.

I do tend to wonder about the things you suggest. And note that the complaintent went all the way to the FEMALE President of SpaceX but was not successful in getting the responses she is demanding, So, I am not taking her position as described in this article at face value, either.

But, all we do by jumping to conclusions with the meager info provided is to reveal our own biases. That is why I criticized the story being published here. Its publication seems to indicate some bias against SpaceX, perhaps against Musk, although he seems to not be personally involved in this at all.

 

[jaydeedoubleyou]

So she had a consensual affair with a married supervisor and it's totally not in any way her fault, it's exclusively his fault, because he's a man.

Now that the supervisor is not her boyfriend, she is being forced to work hard like everyone else and she doesn't like it. Amazing! I hope she doesn't get a dime out of SpaceX and the only money she gets is normal child support payments from her ex-boyfriend.

I concur.
Your mention of child support raises an interesting point of contention which would make for a worthy debate topic: In a corporate atmosphere, a married man has a sexual affair with a female subordinate who gets pregnant. The manager unsurprisingly is of the opinion that she should terminate the pregnancy, even going so far as to offer her $100K if she agrees to do so. Ultimately, she refuses and turns the offer down flat, deciding instead to carry the child to term, keep it after birth, and raise it as her own. NOW, here begs the question: should the man be responsible for financially supporting for the next 18 years a child that he never wanted or agreed to have in the first place?

Another interesting little tidbit I came across after reading more about this story is allegedly the manager/supervisor or whatevs was able (allowed by the company?) to transfer $3.7M worth of company stock out of his name to (fraudulently) avoid paying that child care support... The plot thickens...

Lastly, and this came as no surprise, he left the company at some point in 2022. I wonder what his world is like two years later?

 

[Cdr. Shepard]

I concur.
Your mention of child support raises an interesting point of contention which would make for a worthy debate topic: In a corporate atmosphere, a married man has a sexual affair with a female subordinate who gets pregnant. The manager unsurprisingly is of the opinion that she should terminate the pregnancy, even going so far as to offer her $100K if she agrees to do so. Ultimately, she refuses and turns the offer down flat, deciding instead to carry the child to term, keep it after birth, and raise it as her own. NOW, here begs the question: should the man be responsible for financially supporting for the next 18 years a child that he never wanted or agreed to have in the first place?

Another interesting little tidbit I came across after reading more about this story is allegedly the manager/supervisor or whatevs was able (allowed by the company?) to transfer $3.7M worth of company stock out of his name to (fraudulently) avoid paying that child care support... The plot thickens...

Lastly, and this came as no surprise, he left the company at some point in 2022. I wonder what his world is like two years later?

He engaged in an extramarital affair with the obvious potential consequence of an unwanted pregnancy. It sucks that he never wanted the kid, but sucks even more for the kid that his/her father is a scumbag. He's responsible for child support at a minimum.

These scumbags deserve each other, and the child deserves better.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Let's not get into that debate, here. The "scumbag" title is not reserved for either sex - both have historically behaved in manners deserving of the designation.

Trying do decide who deserves it on the basis of press releases by lawyers of feuding ex-lovers is not science.

Lets' stick to the science, here.

And, I mean that for the editors who select the subjects of stories on Space.com, too.

 

[COLGeek]

Closing this now, folks. Thank you.