A Falcon 9 rocket launches the Transporter-1 mission in January 2021.
SpaceX
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Elon Musk’s SpaceX to see if the company discriminates against non-American citizens in its hiring practices, according to court documents filed on Thursday.
The DOJ’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Division received a complaint of discrimination in employment from a non-US citizen, claiming that the company discriminated against him based on his citizenship status.
“The prosecution alleges that on or around March 10, 2020, during the interview of the Chartered Party for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX asked questions about his citizenship status and ultimately did not hire him to the position because he is not a legal permanent US citizen, “wrote DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval in a complaint filed on Thursday.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.
SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
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The Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) division says it notified SpaceX via email on June 8 that it had opened an investigation, requesting SpaceX to provide information and documents related to its hiring and eligibility verification processes.
The complaint says that SpaceX responded in August, sending the DOJ a Form I-9 spreadsheet with employee information since June 2019. But SpaceX declined the DOJ’s request “to produce any supporting documentation for Form I-9, such as copies of employees’ passports, driver’s licenses or social security cards, “wrote Sandoval.
The IER then obtained a subpoena on October 7, but the complaint states that SpaceX refused to produce the subpoenaed documents.
SpaceX filed a petition in the DOJ administrative court to reject the subpoena on the grounds that it exceeded the scope of the IER’s authority, but the petition was denied and SpaceX was ordered to comply with it. The IER says that SpaceX on December 11 recognized the order, but told the IER “that ‘it does not intend to produce any additional information in response to the administrative subpoena’.”
The DOJ IER argues that the subpoena documents are relevant because they show the extent to which SpaceX hires non-US citizens and says it is not costly, although SpaceX has told the IER that it would have to retrieve each document manually.
The Justice Department is requesting a court order to require SpaceX to comply with the subpoena within two weeks.
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