SpaceX Secures Legal Reprieve as NLRB Drops Key Labor Complaint
SpaceX gained ground in its legal battle with the National Labor Relations Board after the agency withdrew a contentious complaint. The December 18 dismissal request—jointly filed by SpaceX and NLRB attorneys in Texas federal court—nullified one of two lawsuits challenging the board's constitutionality.
The dispute originated from a March 2024 NLRB Seattle office complaint targeting SpaceX's severance agreements. Regulators argued confidentiality clauses could suppress worker rights. SpaceX counterpunched with a federal lawsuit questioning the NLRB's very structure—a tactic previously deployed against a separate Los Angeles office complaint alleging retaliation against Elon Musk's critics.
This retreat narrows the battlefield to fundamental questions about labor regulators' authority. The NLRB's concurrent review of whether aviation-sector mediator NMB should handle such cases signals potential jurisdictional upheaval in labor oversight.