The Department of Justice is investigating Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, for possible discriminatory hiring practices against non-U.S. citizens. The investigation was prompted by a complaint that was sent to the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER).

The initial complaint that prompted the investigation comes from Fabian Hutter, a U.S. permanent resident of Austrian and Canadian descent. Hutter shares with CNBC that while interviewing for a technical strategy position with the company, he was asked about his citizenship status. He explains, “Within five seconds I knew this wasn’t a real interview.” Hutter also shared that the company did not probe into his coding background or look at any of the skills he brought to the table because of the lack of technical questions asked in the interview.

The complaint reads in part, “The charge alleges that on or about March 10, 2020, during the Charging Party’s interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.”

SpaceX Fails to Comply with DOJ

On June 8th, SpaceX was informed of the DOJ's investigation by the IER. During its initial contact, the IER prompted the company to provide documents that showcased the company's hiring and employment process. The company partially complied by sending in a Form I-9 (Employment eligibility verification form) spreadsheet that contained data on its employees dating back to 2019. The Form I-9 is broken into two sections. The first section collects the background information of employees including the status of their citizenship. The second section of the form requires applicants to provide documents of identification.

When asked to supply relevant documents about its hiring practices, SpaceX declined to supply the IER with “any Form I-9 supporting documentation, such as copies of employees’ passports, driver’s licenses, or Social Security cards, as requested.”

Lisa Sandoval, an attorney for the DOJ, explains that the identification documents asked for in the subpoena are "highly relevant." She adds that the forms "demonstrate, among other things, the extent to which SpaceX hires non-US citizens and may reveal whether or not it is engaging in a pattern of not hiring them due to their citizenship status."

Sandoval also describes the missing documents that SpaceX has refused to provide as "critical." She explains that the documents would "enable IER to identify potential victims of citizenship status discrimination and reveal trends in document collection during the employment eligibility verification process that may support an unfair documentary practices claim, which may not be apparent on the Forms I-9 themselves."

When SpaceX failed to comply with handing over the documents, the IER issued SpaceX a subpoena on October 7th for the documents. Still, SpaceX declined to provide the documents. SpaceX filed a petition arguing that it would not comply with the details of the subpoena because the IER exceeded its authority in issuing the subpoena. The petition was denied, however, and the IER explained that SpaceX maintains its stance and "does not intend to produce any additional information in response to the administrative subpoena." The DOJ has pressed forth with a request to the courts to order SpaceX to comply with the subpoena within two weeks.

SpaceX has responded to the claims made by Hutter and denies any wrongdoing in terms of discriminatory hiring practices. The company shared in a statement, "Hutter gave an unimpressive screening interview, and SpaceX rejected his application at that point; in fact, as of July 1, 2020, SpaceX had rejected every candidate it gave a technical screening interview to and had hired no one for the position.”