Former SpaceX engineer revealed details about the alleged age discrimination in the company, as reported by The Verge. In an essay, engineer John Johnson writes, "I saw my work roles gradually transferred to younger engineers who fit the company's 'frat bro' mold."
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk (C) arrives at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway on August 29, 2022.
The essay was published on the platform Lioness. Johnson is 62 years old and has worked with the company for years. Over the four years that he worked for Elon Musk's company, he said that he worked really hard to meet the company's expectations of him.
Unfortunately, in 2019, he suffered a back injury, and from there, he was pushed to leave. Right before having his back surgery in February 2020, Johnson said that the company started reassigning younger engineers to take over many of his roles and responsibilities. Even when he came back from his surgery after a week, his roles weren't restored.
When he resigned in June, he filed a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission, claiming that SpaceX discriminated against him due to his age.
"Nothing Was Done"
During that time, Johnson wrote an email and spoke to HR and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell about the incidents but only got a reply that they would investigate the issue. Unfortunately, nothing was done to fix the situation.
Also read: SpaceX Employees Criticize Elon Musk's 'Harmful Twitter Behavior' In an Open Letter
Age Discrimination at the Workplace
For most people, age discrimination is a major concern in the workplace. Many people suffer from discrimination in the workplace due to their age, and if we would like to end this, we have to bring this issue to light.
65-years-old is the average retirement age in the United States, but for many people, retiring at such a young age is difficult. According to Forbes, men and women suffer from age discrimination in the workplace.
Unfortunately, many age discrimination cases aren't even reported to the authorities. It's hard to prove that you suffer from age discrimination in the workplace. On the other hand, other cases might not even be reported because of fear of retaliation from upper management.
Age discrimination is a serious issue in the workplace that needs to be addressed in order to keep the workplace healthy and prevent our workforce from aging.
Elon Musk's company SpaceX has been known for its excellence in rocketry and space technology. This company has helped many people, such as entrepreneur Elon Musk, to take humanity to the next level. Technology is one of the most important aspects of our society, and if we want to progress, we need to make sure that technology is made available to everyone.
In the case of rocket science, technology that can help us move into space is extremely important to the future of our planet. SpaceX is a company that many people look up to when it comes to technology. If they can succeed in making affordable space access a reality, it might change our planet.
Unfortunately, this company has also struggled with some major issues as well. One of them being age discrimination. As one of the most notable companies in the world, SpaceX should try to fix this problem before it gets worse.
Related article: SpaceX's Holy Grail is Starship? Here's Why This Rocket is Irreplaceable
