After the revelation of court documents that showed that the company of Elon Musk stonewalled a subpoena for information, a SpaceX investigation was immediately deployed by the United States Department of Justice.
Following the release of the court documents on Thursday, the DOJ is digging more information regarding the hiring practices and the truth behind the alleged discrimination against non-U.S. citizens of Elon Musk's company.
Discrimination Against Non-US Citizens
Moreover, the said investigation was triggered by a complaint of employment discrimination coming from a non-U.S. citizen to the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the DOJ, as the complainant stated that Elon Musk's company discriminated against him due to the status of his citizenship.
According to CNBC, in a complaint filed on Thursday by DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval, she wrote that the said charge alleges that during the Charging Party's interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate which is on or about March 10, 2020, SpaceX made inquiries regarding the complainant's citizenship status.
Also mentioned in the complaint, Elon Musk's company allegedly failed to hire the applicant/complainant for the position because he is not a citizen of the United States or even a lawful permanent resident.
On the other hand, following the SpaceX investigation, CNBC requested comment from Elon Musk's company, however, they did not immediately respond.
Even the Department of Justice also declined in giving a comment regarding the SpaceX investigation.
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The SpaceX Notification
On June 8, 2020, the Department of Justice's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section or also known as the IER mentioned that they have notified the company of Elon Musk, in an e-mail, notifying the company they had opened the SpaceX Investigation, International Business Times reported.
In addition, the IER also requested information and documents related to the hiring processes and employment eligibility verification processes of Elon Musk's company.
Moreover, as mentioned in the complaint, SpaceX sent a Form I-9 spreadsheet which contains information regarding their employees and was dated back to June 2019, as a response to the complaint.
However, the SpaceX investigation started to heat up when the company of Elon Musk declined to submit the requested Form I-9 supporting documents by the DOJ.
Based on the complaint, the supporting documents include copies of Social Security cards, the passport of the employees, and their driver's licenses.
On October 7, 2020, the IER obtained a subpoena to lawfully pushed SpaceX on the submission of their supporting documents, but still, the company rejected the request of the subpoenaed documents.
As a countermeasure, SpaceX filed a petition with a DOJ administrative tribunal as a way for the subpoena on the grounds to be dismissed and mentioned that it exceeded the scope of authority by the IER.
However, the SpaceX investigation pushed through after the denial of their petition and the company was ordered to comply.
On December 11, the IER has mentioned that SpaceX had acknowledged the order by the DOJ however, the company emphasized that they are not willing to submit any additional documentation in response to the administrative subpoena.
Moreover, the IER argued Elon Musk's company because the subpoenaed documents have a huge relevance in their hiring processes and emphasized that is not a burdensome request.
But SpaceX responded that they need to retrieve each of the documents manually.
The DOJ is currently waiting for a court order that will require SpaceX to comply with the subpoena within a two-week period, TweakTown reported.
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