Exclusive: SpaceX employee claims he was fired for flagging ‘despicable' safety practices that put lives at risk

Independent

28-07-2025

A former SpaceX supervisor is accusing the company of 'despicable conduct' regarding its safety practices, claiming, among other things, that chronic understaffing was resulting in serious injuries where overworked employees were 'too fearful to report.'
In a scathing civil lawsuit filed initially in state court and removed to Los Angeles federal court last Friday, Robert Markert describes raising 'strong concerns' about revising a technical process that could 'easily cause serious injury or death.' However, Markert's complaint contends, SpaceX opted to keep things as-is because it was 'more economical.'
Markert, who spent nearly 14 years at SpaceX before he was fired, oversaw a team of 16 technicians responsible for retrieving the company's rockets upon their return to Earth and preparing them for reuse.
His complaint claims SpaceX refused to dial back a dangerously jam-packed launch schedule, forced people to work up to three weeks in a row without a break and skimped on vital instructional programs in an attempt to save money.
When Markert, 37, voiced his concerns to management, he claims he was told that 'the schedule comes first,' according to his complaint. When he tried to schedule days off for his crew, Markert was 'chastised [by] his leadership team,' the complaint alleges. And when Markert flagged a crucial manpower shortage on the ships SpaceX uses to fetch spacecraft at sea, he says he was told he 'needed to bring solutions, not problems.'
In one instance, Markert suggested to higher-ups that SpaceX 'needed to prioritize' more training sessions for workers to get properly certified in certain areas, according to the complaint. But, it maintains, he was told that 'there is no time for that and the company would not spend the money on it.'
The privately-held commercial launch services company founded and controlled by Elon Musk, the world's richest person, expects to book revenues this year of more than $15 billion.
Markert was let go this spring by SpaceX, which has seen four of its rockets explode so far in 2025. His complaint argues his termination was due in part to his criticisms of the company's safety shortcomings.
Reached by phone, Markert referred The Independent to his attorney, who was traveling Monday and unable to comment.
SpaceX officials, along with the outside lawyers defending SpaceX against Markert's claims, did not respond to requests for comment.
Last year, Musk moved the 13,000-strong firm's headquarters from California to Texas, amid a feud with 'woke' Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Markert worked at a SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California, about 20 miles south of Los Angeles.
SpaceX has faced other recent lawsuits filed by ex-employees who felt they, too, had been wronged on the job. Earlier this month, a Black materials inspector at the same plant as Markert sued SpaceX after being fired for tardiness, which he alleged was overlooked if the offender happened to be white. In May, a SpaceX worker in Washington State who suffered from Crohn's disease filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming his supervisors timed his bathroom breaks and wrote him up if he spent more than 10 minutes on the toilet. (Crohn's can cause urgent, often uncontrollable, bowel movements.)
Markert's complaint says he was 'well liked by his peers, and consistently received positive performance reviews.' At the same time, Markert 'frequently brought up safety and labor concerns,' according to the complaint.
Concerned about the unforced errors that fatigued employees tend to make, Markert informed his bosses that 'several technicians were being required to work sometimes 15 to 20 days in a row without a day off,' and that others were denied rest periods during their shifts, the complaint states.
According to the complaint, SpaceX management told Markert that 'the schedule comes first.' If he tried to schedule a day off for an exhausted underling, Markert would be 'chastised' by his supervisors. And when Markert tried to persuade SpaceX to add more bodies to his team, the complaint says he was 'shut down.'
'[Markert] informed his senior leadership that many of the technicians were being overworked as they were not staffing enough technicians on ships,' the complaint goes on. 'This resulted in technicians doing multiple duties simultaneously in a high stress and extremely dangerous environment which resulted in injuries that technicians were too fearful to report. After voicing concerns to leadership, [Markert] was frequently told he needed to bring solutions, not problems. However, when [Markert] suggested more technicians, he was denied.'
If SpaceX wouldn't hire more technicians, Markert 'suggested they dial back on the mission manifest,' but was 'told the Vice President of Launch would never allow that,' according to the complaint.
In early 2025, it says Markert raised 'strong concerns' about a process involving the recovery of rocket fairings he considered extremely unsafe, and one he believed could seriously injure, or even kill, somebody. He recommended the company create a new system to reduce the risk, the complaint states.
'The company decided not to act on the issue and kept the… process as it was because it was the more economical solution,' according to the complaint.
Markert's tenure at SpaceX came to an end in April 2025, which he claims was retaliation for consistently flagging safety problems, as well as an apparently confounding issue with one of his subordinates.
In early 2024, Markert agreed to hire a SpaceX employee from the East Coast, who had filed a discrimination complaint against her previous team and was looking for a 'fresh start,' the complaint explains. It says the transfer employee complained frequently to Markert about coworkers underperforming or misbehaving. He took her grievances seriously, and duly brought them to human resources, but they often turned out to be exaggerated or even fabricated, according to the complaint.
A year later, on the transfer employee's last day with SpaceX, she filed a discrimination report against someone on Markert's team, his complaint says. An investigation substantiated the claims, which are not laid out in the complaint, and on April 2, 2025, Markert was fired. When he asked what he had done wrong, the SpaceX HR reps told Markert they 'could not share any details,' according to the complaint.
Markert was informed he was eligible for rehire elsewhere at SpaceX, but claims HR quietly made sure there were no takers.
Adding insult to injury, Markert – whose complaint describes him as a 'lifer' who hoped to retire from SpaceX – forfeited more than $3.5 million in as-yet unvested SpaceX equity that would have become his over the next six years. Additionally, Markert says he lost out on at least $1,219,457 in lost salary and benefits, and at least $1,172,287 in future lost equity.
Markert's complaint argues that he 'engaged in the protected activities of raising safety and labor concerns and reporting discrimination on behalf of a subordinate and participating in the subsequent investigation,' yet 'suffered the adverse employment actions of retaliatory termination.'
He is now seeking compensatory damages, special damages, and general damages totaling $5,966,214, plus punitive damages to be determined by a jury.
In a response filed prior to moving the case from state to federal court, SpaceX argued that Markert was an 'at-will employee' and claimed he was 'terminated for legitimate, non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory reasons.'
The company further says it has made 'a good faith effort to comply with all applicable anti-discrimination and retaliation laws,' and that it does not owe punitive damages because it has 'not engaged in any alleged conduct with malice or reckless indifference to the protected rights of any aggrieved individual.'
SpaceX does not owe Markert any other damages, its response argues, claiming 'such damages, if any, are too speculative to be recoverable at law.'