SpaceX has asked a federal judge in Texas to block the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from considering claims that the company required workers to sign illegal severance agreements in the pending outcome of the company’s second challenge to the agency’s structure.
On Thursday, SpaceX filed a motion for a preliminary injunction with a federal judge in Waco, Texas, Reuters reported. The company claims that the board’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate the US Constitution and the company should not have to face an NLRB complaint filed last month while the case plays out.
SpaceX’s lawyers told US District Judge, Alan Albright, that the agency lacks authority to hear the case because its administrative judges and five members appointed by the president are inadequately protected from removal.
“And on top of its constitutional injury and injuries to its business interests, SpaceX will suffer the practical harms of undergoing an extensive administrative proceeding that distracts from its important missions, including launching satellites critical to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies and flying NASA astronauts to space,” SpaceX lawyers wrote.
Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s also questioned the NLRB’s structure in pending board cases.
SpaceX previously filed the lawsuit in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, which stems from a separate NLRB complaint accusing the company of wrongfully firing engineers. The complaint criticizes the constitutionality of the board of directors. In February, US District Judge, Rolando Olvera, granted the board’s request to transfer the lawsuit to California. SpaceX asked Olvera to reconsider the decision after the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the company’s motion to block the transfer.
In a statement released Thursday, the company said its severance agreements serve the important purpose of “providing clarity and certainty governing the parties’ relationship.”
“Each day that passes with the possibility of new developments in an unconstitutional administration proceeding creates a cloud of additional uncertainty and irreparable harm to these important business interests,” SpaceX wrote.
