(Reuters) – A report saying Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX paid $250,000 to settle sexual harassment claims by a flight attendant on a non-public jet comes as he eyes a takeover of Twitter.
Below is an outline of among the key legal questions arising from the claims, which have been printed on Thursday by Business Insider. Musk has denied the allegations.
WHAT ARE THE CLAIMS AGAINST MUSK?
Business Insider reported on Thursday that SpaceX paid $250,000 in 2018 to settle claims by an unnamed non-public jet flight attendant who accused Musk of exposing himself to her. The article quoted an nameless one who mentioned she was a pal of the flight attendant. The pal had supplied a assertion as a part of a non-public settlement course of, in response to the article.
In Twitter posts on Thursday, Musk known as the allegations “totally unfaithful” and mentioned the alleged publicity “by no means occurred.” Reuters couldn’t independently verify the Business Insider report.
HAS MUSK FACED ANY PAST SEXUAL HARASSMENT COMPLAINTS OR LAWSUITS?
No. There are not any different public harassment allegations against Musk.
ARE MUSK’S COMPANIES FACING SEXUAL HARASSMENT OR OTHER EMPLOYMENT LAWSUITS?
Tesla has confronted accusations of race and intercourse discrimination, together with a race bias class motion lawsuit in California state court docket and a lawsuit by California’s Department of Fair Housing and Employment, which alleges widespread race discrimination.
At least seven ladies have filed sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits against Tesla since late final yr. These lawsuits are at an early stage.
Tesla has broadly denied wrongdoing and mentioned it has adopted insurance policies to stop and punish office misconduct.
Tesla is hardly distinctive in going through such legal challenges; most U.S. companies with giant workforces face some employment-related claims and lawsuits.
SpaceX isn’t going through lawsuits over sexual harassment, regardless of a number of accusations that feminine workers have made within the media and on-line. In December, for occasion, a former SpaceX engineer wrote in a weblog put up that the corporate was “rife with sexism” and that her complaints of sexual harassment had been ignored.
SpaceX has mentioned it rigorously investigates harassment and discrimination complaints and takes acceptable motion when a firm coverage is violated.
IS MUSK A DEFENDANT IN THE LAWSUITS AGAINST THE COMPANIES?
No. Musk isn’t a defendant in any of the lawsuits. But, in a number of pending race discrimination and sexual harassment circumstances workers have accused him and different senior firm leaders of being dismissive about misconduct and of permitting hostile office circumstances to fester.
WHERE DO THE LAWSUITS STAND AND HOW HAVE THE COMPANIES RESPONDED TO THEM?
A federal decide in April awarded $15 million to a Black Tesla manufacturing facility employee who claimed he was subjected to racial slurs and racist graffiti by coworkers at a Fremont, California, manufacturing facility. Tesla has sought to pause the California company’s lawsuit, claiming it did not conduct a correct investigation earlier than suing.
A California decide is anticipated to rule quickly on Tesla’s movement to ship one of many sexual harassment lawsuits against Tesla to arbitration. The decide is presiding over 5 related circumstances, so his ruling might additionally have an effect on these lawsuits.
IF MUSK DID SETTLE WITH THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, WOULD HE HAVE HAD A DUTY TO DISCLOSE IT TO SPACEX’S BOARD?
Boards have a responsibility to make sure that companies adjust to the legislation, together with legal guidelines that prohibit intercourse discrimination. While board members aren’t anticipated to find out about each single allegation of rule-breaking, “they’d be anticipated to have procedures to know claims of lawbreaking immediately against the CEO,” mentioned Ann Lipton of Tulane Law School.
Reuters was unable independently to find out the supply of any funds used to compensate the alleged sufferer within the SpaceX case.
WOULD TESLA’S BOARD KNOW OF THE SETTLEMENT?
Three 2016 SpaceX board members additionally served concurrently on the board of Tesla. But they’ve a responsibility of confidentiality for info obtained as a director, so they might not have shared the data with the Tesla board. Reuters was unable to determine whether or not these board members disclosed the settlement.
DOES TWITTER HAVE A REASON TO INVESTIGATE?
The reply is “a clear ‘no,'” Lipton mentioned. Musk is a giant Twitter shareholder and has sought to purchase the corporate, however when a board is promoting a firm for money, its “solely duty is to get the very best value for shareholders,” she mentioned.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)
