Staff at SpaceX’s HQ facility at Hawthorne, California, issued a ‘Class Action’ lawsuit against the rocket builder, alleging that SpaceX required staff to work extra hours without adequate payment or compensation.

This is not the first time that SpaceX has faced employee grumbles. Last year the firm laid off hundreds of staff without adequate notice and in violation of California labour laws. SpaceX argued that the affected staff were fired for poor performance reviews.

Now, Stan Saporito is leading the action and says that from June 2013 until February this year SpaceX didn’t budget sufficient labour hours to get key tasks completed and then required staffers to work ‘off the clock’ to avoid paying overtime or full compensation. Earlier this year in April another employee started a similar action claiming the company denied staff meal and rest breaks, and were not paid severance dues when laid off.

In June a California judge refused to throw two class actions then running despite it being claimed that staff had waived their rights.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite