Ellie Abrams, who was fired by Blue Origin in 2019, and 20 other employees at the space company wrote an open letter to Jeff Bezos, categorizing the work environment as “toxic.”
The document accuses several Blue Origin employees, including group leaders, of “sexism” and discouraging confrontation of ideas, even when it is on the table for “safety guarantees for special trips.”
“A woman who has doubts about security measures is often given verbal reprimands at a Blue Origin meeting,” the letter said.
“If the culture and work environment of this company is the model of the future that Jeff Bezos represents, we are moving in a direction that reflects the worst of the world we live in now,” the letter said.
According to the letter, the group behind the statement consists of 21 people, former engineers and managers of Blue Origin.
The letter was posted Thursday on the Lioness website, an online platform that often works with whistleblowers.
The US press contacted representatives of Blue Origin, who did not directly respond to the allegations, but issued a statement in which they said they “do not tolerate discrimination or harassment.”
“We have a number of support measures for our employees, including an anonymous 24/7 hotline that generates complaints of misconduct, which we investigate.
