A woman has filed a lawsuit against SpaceX, alleging that she was pressured into sex by her married boss, who then tried to force her into an abortion.
Michelle Dopak, a production coordinator, claimed in the lawsuit that she and several other female employees made formal complaints about sexual discrimination in the workplace. Within six months, management was restructured, and Dopak was reporting to another supervisor — a married man named Anthony Brooks. She then alleged that he pressured her to begin a sexual relationship with him.
According to the lawsuit, “Brooks grabbed Plaintiff by the waist, pulled her against his body, and kissed her without her permission. Plaintiff was in utter shock as she had, in no way, ever given any indication that she had any interest in Brooks or that his advance was welcomed… not only was Brooks her supervisor, but also, he had made it very clear that he was protected at the Company. Immediately, Plaintiff feared that if she rejected Brooks, her career would be over.”
Soon, Brooks began complaining to Dopak about his marriage, claiming he was “sexually frustrated” and “dissatisfied” with his wife. “Throughout the conversation, it became very apparent through Brooks’ comments and statements that any hope Plaintiff had for a promotion to Scheduler, as promised by Brooks, was directly tied to Plaintiff satisfying his sexual desires; without succumbing to his sexual advances, she would not be promoted,” the lawsuit continued, explaining that she felt that if she didn’t submit to Brooks’ advances, she would lose her job at SpaceX.
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The coerced sexual relationship soon resulted in a pregnancy, and she said he offered her $100,000 to have an abortion:
In or around August of 2020, Plaintiff found out that she was pregnant with Brooks’ child. As a result, on or about August 13, 2020, Plaintiff informed Brooks of her pregnancy. Brooks verbally berated Plaintiff and began demanding that she make a doctor’s appointment to have the child aborted.
Later, on August 24, 2020, Brooks pulled Plaintiff into a conference room at SpaceX and again verbally berated her about her pregnancy in order to intimidate her into aborting it. When his constant threats did not work, Brooks tried to pay off Plaintiff on August 30, 2020, and offered her $100,000 to have an abortion, which was immediately rejected by Plaintiff. Plaintiff finally used this situation in her favor as a way to remove herself from the abusive and coercive situation between herself and Brooks. She was determined to work up the courage to get away from Brooks, not just for her own safety but for the safety of her child.
Dopak’s lawsuit then claimed that SpaceX colluded with Brooks to help Brooks avoid having to pay child support:
Eventually, SpaceX found out that Plaintiff was taking action against Brooks for child support for the daughter that he fathered while he was sexually harassing Plaintiff.
In response, SpaceX immediately went out of its way to collude with Brooks against Plaintiff in an effort to silence Plaintiff before she could bring her claims against SpaceX and Brooks to light. Specifically, SpaceX blocked Plaintiff, at every turn, from obtaining any information about Brooks, but SpaceX’s managers willingly turned over confidential personnel information regarding Plaintiff to Brooks without even being served a subpoena.
In fact, it is clear that numerous SpaceX employees, including managers, have been voluntarily cooperating with Brooks and his attorney on SpaceX’s behalf and providing confidential information about Plaintiff (including information about her medical leave) to Brooks that he could use against Plaintiff without the need for a subpoena or providing an opportunity for Plaintiff to contest the production of her information as required by applicable California law.
It is clear this was done intentionally by SpaceX to retaliate against Plaintiff and cause her severe emotional and financial stress. If that was not enough, SpaceX’s management also colluded with Brooks to allow him to transfer his 48,289 shares of Common Stock (valued at $77/share; totaling $3,718,253) out of his name so he could fraudulently avoid paying Plaintiff any child support.
Pregnancy discrimination in the workplace is not rare; employees at corporations like Nike, Planned Parenthood, Google, and UPS have all claimed to have faced such discrimination. Elite athletes have also said they were pressured to have abortions upon becoming pregnant. Additionally, most abortions occur under some level of coercion; one national study found that 64% of post-abortive women felt pressured to have the abortion.
