Gwynne shotwell, President of SpaceX, sent a company wide email last week in response to reports of sexual assault allegations against CEO Elon Musk and said she did not believe the allegations were true This email reiterated SpaceX's zero tolerance policy on harassment.
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"Personally, I believe these allegations are wrong; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years and have never seen or heard of anything similar to these allegations. Anyone who knows Elon like me knows that he will never do or condone such misconduct," shotwell wrote in an email
Last week, business insider published a report that SpaceX paid $250000 to a former stewardess of the company because she accused musk of exposing herself while giving him a massage and proposing to her. Musk later denied the allegations. "If I have a tendency to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first exposure in my entire 30-year career," he said
In an email to company employees, shotwell pointed out that "every harassment charge will be taken seriously, no matter who is involved". But she didn't mention $250000. "For privacy reasons, I will not comment on any legal matters related to employment," shotwell wrote
SpaceX did not respond to the verge's request for comment in time.
When it comes to employee behavior, SpaceX has a "no a-hole" policy. However, in December, a former employee of SpaceX wrote an article in lioness saying that she was the target of rampant sexual harassment of the company, and the human resources department hardly solved her request. The verge also interviewed four other former SpaceX employees who supported this article and described the sexual harassment culture of improper handling by HR.
A few days before the article was published, shotwell emailed SpaceX employees about the company's "zero tolerance" policy and "no type a blood" policy on harassment. In addition, she encourages employees to stand up in the face of harassment.
However, she pointed out that the company could improve its human resources practices. "We also know that we can always do better, which is why the human resources department has been soliciting feedback from all groups in the company to ensure that the process is effective. The human resources department will also conduct an internal audit, followed by a third-party audit," sotwell wrote in an email in December.