Workers at Bezos’ rocket company allege sexism, safety risks

A group of more than 20 current and former employees is accusing Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket ship company of being a toxic work environment and not adhering to proper safety protocols.

The workers claim in an essay that there’s sexism at the Kent, Washington, company. The employees, led by former head of Blue Origin employee communications Alexandra Abrams, state that “numerous senior leaders have been known to be consistently inappropriate with women.” They also claim that many company leaders were “unapproachable” and showed clear bias against women.

There were also safety concerns, with the group stating that Blue Origin seemed more focused on beating billionaires Richard Branson and Elon Musk to space rather than tackling safety issues that would have slowed down the schedule for the New Shepard rocket.

Blue Origin said in a statement that it has no tolerance for any kind of harassment or discrimination and that it stands by its safety record. The company said it believes “New Shepard is the safest space vehicle ever designed or built.”