Elon Musk's brain-implant startup Neuralink Corp. forced an employee to work with monkeys carrying the herpes B virus in conditions where the animals scratched her bare skin, according to a complaint filed Friday in California state court.
Employee Lindsay Short said that once she moved to the company's Fremont, California, location in August 2022, she faced a “work environment fraught with blame, shame, and impossible deadlines.” She said she was later fired after telling her supervisors that she was pregnant.
Short sued the company for retaliation, wrongful termination, and discrimination based on her gender, among other issues.
Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The startup is in the early stages of clinical trials for its device, which aims to restore function to paralyzed patients. Arizona man Noland Arbeau recently underwent surgery and became… First human patient To implant the device. Arbo, a quadriplegic, can successfully play video games using only his thoughts.
The company also has Criticisms Because of past mistreatment of monkeys and other animals, including botched surgeries when she conducted research on monkeys at UC Davis. Since then, she has moved the monkey research to her own facilities.
Short said she was working with monkeys that carried the herpes B virus when they were scratched through a glove. The company was accused of failing to provide appropriate protective equipment for working with monkeys. In another incident, after she was forced to undergo an operation she was unfamiliar with, a monkey scratched her face. When she insisted on medical treatment, her boss threatened her with “severe repercussions” if it happened again, according to the complaint.
In the lawsuit, Short also said Neuralink did not follow through on its promise of flexible hours to accommodate her family, then demoted her in May 2023, two months after the promotion.
The next month, she told Neuralink's human resources department that she was pregnant. Short was fired the next day with the company saying the termination was due to performance issues, according to the lawsuit.