62-year-old former SpaceX engineer accused Elon Musk of age discrimination

62 year old ex SpaceX engineer says that Elon MuskThe company discriminated against him based on his age during his time there.

John Johnson was hired in 2018 at the age of 58 due to his experience in optical engineering, which is critical to a number of applications related to the operation of an aerospace company.

Musk demands his employees must be “hardcore” and work very long hours at Twitter, SpaceX and Tesla. In his essay published on the Lioness platform, Johnson emphasizes that he often works 10-12 hour days, seven days a week at the company’s California offices and consistently receives positive feedback from managers during his appraisals.

“As we enter a new era with wealthy industrialists at the helm of the biggest tech firms, I feel compelled to tell my story as I feel it is important that their workforce reflect all the demographics of our pluralistic society, not just men.” . “the dominant youth culture that infiltrated my former workplace,” says Johnson. writes.

The 62-year-old former SpaceX engineer says Elon Musk's company discriminated against him because of his age during his time there.

The 62-year-old former SpaceX engineer says Elon Musk’s company discriminated against him because of his age during his time there.

According to John Johnson (above), the process engineer assigned to

According to John Johnson (above), the process engineer assigned to “keep an eye” on him said his Starlink manager said that Johnson “might retire or die.” “I was 61 years old and still six years away from the standard retirement age, even if I was going to retire, which I wasn’t going to. I have not been sick or overweight and am generally healthy,” he explains in the essay.

After resigning in June, Johnson filed a complaint with the Washington State Commission on Human Rights, alleging that SpaceX discriminated against him because of his age and then retaliated.

DailyMail.com reached out to the SpaceX press office for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

In early 2019, Johnson injured his back and was in physical therapy for several weeks, but did not miss a single job. When his back did not improve, he required surgery and told his manager that he would only be out for a few days and provided him with a list of tasks he was working on.

Johnson claims that SpaceX went behind his back and hired an engineer to take over his supplier development role full-time, as well as internally reassigned a buyer to take over his purchasing role.

“These young men in their twenties and thirties swooped down on me right before my operation, setting up download meetings about everything I was doing in these areas,” Johnson writes.

“Then we organized a tour to get acquainted with the suppliers; despite many months of contacts with suppliers, and also the fact that I am the link between internal requirements and the capabilities of external suppliers, I was not even invited to accompany them.

Johnson claims that all the employees who were brought in to fill his job responsibilities were several decades younger and had steep learning curves. He also says they weren’t brought in by his manager, but appear to be from the managers of Starlink, which was run by Mark Giancosa, who was said to be one of the mogul’s bigwigs. “Young Loyalists”.

When Johnson told his manager that he thought ageism was a problem, it was reported to HR, who assured him it was all due to “misunderstandings.” HR told him to keep an eye on internal job postings.

In early 2021, Johnson’s new manager told him that he had been hired for a non-management job.

According to Johnson, a process engineer assigned to “keep an eye” on him said his Starlink manager said that Johnson “could retire or die.”

“I was 61 years old and still six years away from the standard retirement age, even if I was going to retire, which I wasn’t going to. I have not been sick or overweight and am generally healthy,” he explains in the essay.

“As we enter a new era with wealthy industrialists at the helm of the biggest tech firms, I feel compelled to tell my story as I feel it is important that their workforce reflect all the demographics of our pluralistic society, not just men.” .  “the dominant youth culture that infiltrated my old workplace,” writes John Johnson.

“As we enter a new era with wealthy industrialists at the helm of the biggest tech firms, I feel compelled to tell my story as I feel it is important that their workforce reflect all the demographics of our pluralistic society, not just men.” . “the dominant youth culture that infiltrated my old workplace,” writes John Johnson.

Johnson claims that SpaceX worked behind his back and hired an engineer to take over his supplier development role full-time, as well as internally reassigned a buyer to take over his purchasing role.

Johnson claims that SpaceX worked behind his back and hired an engineer to take over his supplier development role full-time, as well as internally reassigned a buyer to take over his purchasing role.

I replied that, of course, my age could not be a legal basis for a job assignment. The engineer, realizing the whole egregious situation, a few minutes later reported this to the personnel department.

A few months later, this Starlink manager was promoted. Johnson even contacted SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. After being assured that they were investigating his claims, he never received a response and was later told that business conditions had changed and SpaceX no longer had a job for him in his area of ​​expertise.

Johnson says there were quite a few job openings at the time, including in Starlink optics.

After reading the writing on the wall, Johnson resigned.

“Musk is now closer in age to Social Security criteria than to the sea of ​​fresh-faced recent graduates his company is hiring,” Johnson writes. “At what age will he be when this predominantly young staff starts to worry that he might ‘retire or die’?”

This is not the first time that SpaceX employees have claimed a discriminatory environment.

Three female interns at SpaceX said they faced sexual harassment and unwanted harassment from other interns as well as senior executives in a number of incidents, the New York Times reported.

In November 2021, a former SpaceX employee filed a lawsuit against the firm alleging racial discrimination, ethnic discrimination, revenge and breach of contract.