The US Labor Department will suspend proceedings against SpaceX until the company takes legal action

By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) – The U.S. National Labor Relations Board told a Texas federal judge it will stay an administrative case accusing SpaceX of illegally firing engineers who criticized CEO Elon Musk, while the rocket maker files a lawsuit against introduces the structure of the agency.

The labor agency said late Thursday in a filing in federal court in Brownsville, Texas, that dropping the underlying case against SpaceX will expedite a final decision on the company’s claims that the agency’s internal enforcement procedures violate the U.S. Constitution .

The panel said it disagreed with SpaceX’s contention that a stay of administrative proceedings was appropriate, but agreed to do so “in the interest of conserving scarce judicial resources (and) avoiding unnecessary costs and delays.”

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)