A Black technician at SpaceX was fired for being late to work while caring for his young daughter as she recuperated from a heart transplant, while his white colleagues were given a pass for their own “consistent tardiness and absences,” according to an eye-popping workplace discrimination lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
In a 33-page federal complaint initially filed in Los Angeles and removed to federal court on June 25, L’Tavious Rice says his bosses at the commercial space launch provider were fully aware of his daughter’s medical condition, and “encouraged him to take time off as needed.”
Yet, Rice’s complaint alleges, the SpaceX Human Resources department soon began ginning up issues with his time-off requests in retaliation for him having agreed, in principle, to testify truthfully about a former supervisor that another employee had accused of wrongdoing in an unrelated incident.
Rice, 38, worked as a materials inspector at the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, California, ensuring the structural integrity of materials such as base metals, welds, structures and assemblies. His complaint also accuses SpaceX of denying him proper meal breaks, and “expected him to work through lunch.”
Rice had no performance issues when SpaceX let him go, the complaint contends, describing the company’s treatment of him as “deliberate, cold, callous, cruel and intentional.”
Attorney Stephanie Perez, who is representing Rice, told The Independent that Rice’s daughter is now 5, and that she was very young when she had the heart transplant. It requires continual monitoring and checkups, since there is always a chance of organ rejection, Perez said. When Rice’s daughter hit a rough patch and was hospitalized for a week right before he was let go, he was still showing up for work, according to Perez.
“He consistently outperformed his white coworkers, but was held to a higher standard,” Perez said. “Space X turned a blind eye to several white co-workers showing up late, or failing to show up at all. We believe supervisors manipulated time entries to erase co-workers’ late clock-ins, concealing the tardiness. The same grace was not extended to Mr. Rice.”
SpaceX and the lawyers defending the company against Rice’s claims, did not respond to requests for comment.
Rice was hired at SpaceX in February 2020, and became a standout worker, according to his complaint. It says Rice was “consistently complimented for his work ethic, outshining his cohort who appeared less motivated.”
The complaint says Rice’s daughter suffered from a “serious” medical condition, which is unspecified in court filings but eventually necessitated a heart transplant.
“After the successful transplant, UCLA Medical Center required continual transplant monitoring, as did her Kaiser Permanente pediatric cardiologist,” the complaint goes on. “When a fever presented or she fell ill, immediate medical intervention was required to ensure her body was not rejecting the transplant. Given the heart is a vital organ, serious precautions were in place to protect the transplant’s vitality.”
Rice made his supervisors aware of his daughter’s cardiac issues, and they told him to take whatever time off he needed, the complaint continues. He entered his time-off requests into an online portal maintained by SpaceX, and uses a “point-system” which penalizes employees for tardiness or unexcused absences, according to the complaint. Rice was told that he could also “let his superior know via text or call” if he anticipated being late, it says.
Last year, Rice was called into HR for an interview. There, an HR exec told Rice that his former supervisor had been accused of retaliation against another SpaceX employee, and that he could be called as a witness, according to the complaint.
“HR questioned [Rice] about the various allegations,” the complaint states. “[Rice] answered honestly and advised he believed the supervisor’s actions were retaliatory, and intended to be honest if called as a witness should the matter proceed to litigation.”
From that point on, HR “began closely monitoring [Rice’s] time-off requests via [SpaceX’s online portal] and tardiness (despite having already informed his superior of such tardies) used to for his daughter,” the complaint alleges.
“HR began retaliating against [Rice], implementing strict application of the point system,” it says. “Interestingly, while HR enforced the point system against [Rice], the point system was not used against his white counterparts. [Rice] observed his white colleagues’ consistent tardiness and absences, without points either being applied or remaining on their record. [Rice] then discovered some of SpaceX’s supervisors were ‘writing off’ or ‘erasing’ such points.”
On August 20, 2024, Rice was terminated.
“SpaceX cited the point system as the basis for such termination,” the complaint states.
Perez told The Independent that speaking up against large, powerful corporations such as SpaceX “is a daunting task, but a necessary one.”
“I believe people want to do the right thing,” she said. “However, when history repeats itself and patterns resurface, it reveals deeper systematic issues.”
Rice’s daughter is doing better now, but continues to require check-ins and monitoring by her doctor, according to Perez.
SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk, the erratic billionaire and President Donald Trump’s erstwhile “first buddy,” was sued in May by an employee with Crohn’s disease, who claimed his supervisors at the company’s Redmond, Washington facility monitored his bathroom breaks and penalized him for spending more than 10 minutes on the toilet. During the Biden administration, the Department of Justice sued SpaceX over its alleged refusal to hire asylum seekers and refugees, a case which the incoming Trump administration dropped in February 2025. In 2023, SpaceX was sued for allegedly underpaying women and minorities, and last year, authorities accused SpaceX of illegally firing eight employees who criticized Musk.
On Tuesday, Trump floated the idea of denaturalizing and deporting Musk, a South African-born U.S. citizen who donated $288 million toward the president’s victorious 2024 campaign, and stripping SpaceX (and other Musk companies) of their federal contracts. Trump has been lashing out at Musk over his opposition to the GOP’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” a spending package that, if passed, would all but sink future prospects for the wind and solar industries, wipe out tax incentives for buyers of electric cars, and leave millions without access to healthcare.
Rice is seeking special and exemplary damages; at least $500,000 in general damages for emotional and mental distress and aggravation; economic damages for past and future lost wages, bonuses, and benefits; and punitive damages to be determined by a jury, as well as legal fees and court costs.
