The news are spreading with lightning speed. If you have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any social media account it is inevitable that you’ve come across the sexual harassment allegations that Elon Musk is going through at the moment.
Many people are siding with the billionaire and believe his innocence. However, there are many that are siding with the other party and believe that the allegations are true.
SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell Defends Elon Musk
There are facts that support the one, as well as the other side of the story, but what exactly happened, only Elon Musk can tell. Since the appearance of the story, Elon denies it, and calls it a ‘politically motivated hit piece’.
The allegation states that Elon sexually harassed the attendant, then paid $250 000 from SpaceX’s bank account. SpaceX’s board of executives can easily check this and confirm, or decline the allegation.
Recently, the president of the company, Gwynne Shotwell informs all SpaceX personnel via email regarding this matter. In the email, she expresses her belief that the CEO is not guilty of the matter. The first leak of the email shows up on the CNBC website and gets a review on ‘The Verge’ as well.
“Personally, I believe the allegations to be false; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years. During this period I’ve never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations.” – Shotwell says in the email. “Anyone who knows Elon as I do knows he would never conduct or condone this alleged inappropriate behavior.”
This is the first time such allegations are coming up in public regarding the SpaceX CEO. It all happens in a rather sensitive period when he is on the verge to buy the Twitter social media. And also, when he is uncontrollably tweeting against the Democrats. So everything does fall into place if you look at it through this prism.
“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light.” – Elon says for the Business Insider.
However, the interesting part comes next. In the email that the company’s president sent, no information is given, nor mentioned regarding the alleged $250 000. She simply does only say that she cannot discuss that matter. ‘For privacy reasons, I will never comment on any legal matters involving employment issues’ – Gwynne says. She decides to skip this part. But does not fail to mention that ‘at SpaceX every accusation of harassment is taken very seriously, regardless of who is involved’.
According to ‘The Verge’ however, this is not the first time sexual harassment happens in SpaceX. Even though the company says that there is a policy that doesn’t allow the extension of working contracts for ‘assholes’ that sexually harass employees, the human resources department states otherwise.
Obviously, they are receiving complaints of sexual harassment regularly. However, HR is taking little to no action regarding it. From ‘The Verge’ they are contacting many of these SpaceX employees. Many of them are backing up the story of constant harassment in the workplace. They also back up the claim for the inactive HR department.
In a prior email, from back in December, Gwynne speaks about the ‘no asshole’ policy that the company has. She encourages all employees that might have any experience like this to come forward. Reporting it to the officials of the company is the first thing to do. She does assure them that the company will do everything for resolving the cases against the potential harassers. This email is sent only as a regular encouragement for the employees to report mistreatment.
“Timely reporting of harassment is key to our maintaining SpaceX as a great place to work; we can’t fix what we don’t know.” The director of the company writes in the email. “If you are aware of, or experience any acts of harassment or discrimination, report it. Report it to your manager or any HR representative.” – she states back in December.
This is not all that the email says. She also acknowledges the fact that the company might do much better in this view. So she encourages employees to give feedback on the work of all departments regularly. The feedback can be given to HR, or to the ‘foreign’ company that will conduct the questioning.
“We also know we can always do better. That is why HR has been soliciting feedback from groups across the company to ensure the process is effective. HR will also conduct an internal audit, followed by a third-party audit.”
Even though the company’s president is defending the CEO, this is not a reason for us to believe the case.
In the following weeks, we are eagerly expecting more information regarding this to come up. If they do, and their background is relevant, has strong backing up with facts and evidence the case will go to direct solving. We will know what the current situation is. Is the world’s richest man a sexual harasser and maniac, or is he as innocent as he states?
As I previously said, at the moment that is really difficult to tell. The lack of strict information from both sides smells funny. If the Insider has proofs, why didn’t they show them in the first place? If Elon is innocent, why does he and SpaceX oppose the idea to show the invoice from the company for the alleged period? That way we can see whether the transfer of the funds exists or not.
For now, the only thing that we can do is wait for more stable proof. What do you think? Are the allegations true? Do you share opinions with Gwynne Shotwell?