--- title: "SpaceX Sued Yet Again for Sexual Harassment" description: "A former SpaceX employee has sued the company and a senior employee for sexual harassment — and she's not the first." date: "2025-07-05" modified: "2025-07-05" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-sued-again-sexual-harassment" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" --- # SpaceX Sued Yet Again for Sexual Harassment ![A former SpaceX employee has sued the company and a senior employee for sexual harassment -- and she's not the first.]() *\Image: Kevin Dietsch / Getty / Futurism\* SpaceX is facing yet another sexual harassment lawsuit. *TechCrunch* [reports]() that Jenna Shumway, a former security manager at the company, is suing SpaceX and a senior employee for sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. According to a [complaint]() filed in late May, the senior employee, Daniel Collins, began a "campaign of harassment and retaliation" against Shumway after he was hired in the spring of 2024, preventing her from carrying out her duties while doing everything he could to get her fired. "These efforts ultimately succeeded," the complaint said. Shumway further alleges that she was passed over for a promotion to a director role in favor of Collins, even though she was recommended for the position and was told she would have an opportunity to interview. That opportunity never came, and Shumway claims that when she raised the issue with HR and management, they stonewalled her. After Collins was hired, Shumway was given a promotion to senior manager "seemingly as consolation in an effort to appease" her, per the complaint. She allegedly received lower pay compared to her male counterparts, in effect leaving her stuck with all the extra duties that the director position entails, but without the title or salary. Collins turned out to be a lousy pick. As *TechCrunch* notes, the former Department of Defense official was implicated in [reporting by the ]()[*New York Times*]() in December last year, which detailed how SpaceX was facing three separate federal reviews by US defense and intelligence agencies for mishandling security protocols. According to the story, Collins repeatedly allowed executives without proper clearance into classified meetings, and discouraged employees from reporting these violations, including those by CEO Elon Musk. This latest lawsuit alleges that Collins vigorously harassed other female employees, too, aggressively berating and yelling at them — behavior he never exhibited towards the men in the office. In at least one incident, he stared at an employee's breasts so blatantly that she "sought to cover up." The women repeatedly reported Collins to HR — and its response was insulting tone deaf. "Again, as before, HR did nothing except make a useless suggestion that he female employees use a 'buddy system' so as to avoid being alone with Collins," the complaint said. This isn't the first lawsuit that alleges alarming treatment of women at the space company — and especially by its CEO, who has a long history of [creepy behavior](). In 2024, SpaceX was [sued]() by eight former employees who alleged that Musk sexually harassed female employees and treated them as "sexual objects," emboldening their male coworkers to emulate his gross behavior. The plaintiffs were abruptly fired, the lawsuit alleges, after circulating a petition calling out his behavior. In 2022, it came to light that a woman who worked as a flight attendant on the company's corporate fleet had accused Musk of exposing his genitals to her, before groping her legs and offering to buy her a horse. To buy her silence, SpaceX [reportedly]() paid her $250,000. In 2024, the billionaire was also [accused]() of having sex with a SpaceX intern. Musk has fathered at least 14 children with four different mothers, and has a track record of approaching women, [some of them his employees](), and [asking them to have his babies](). Per *TechCrunch,* the latest suit was first filed in a Los Angeles County Superior Court, but was moved to a federal court on June 30 at SpaceX's request. **More on SpaceX:** *[Video Shows Large Crane Collapsing at Safety-Plagued SpaceX Rocket Facility]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()